


The Forgotten Wizard

by CharmHazel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2020-06-25 12:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19745917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmHazel/pseuds/CharmHazel
Summary: On the cusp of the third wizarding war, the truth behind the events of Halloween 1981 and subsequent events finally come to light, when it is revealed that Harry Potter, forgotten and ignored by many, is the Boy Who Lived.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been adopted and adapted from Yandrak's The Forgotten Wizard, with their full permission. The changes I made were to my personal preferences.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever owned Harry Potter.

**July 2002…**

_Sir,_

_I suspect you are already aware of what I am about to tell you, but I felt it necessary to confirm to you that LV has regained his body once more._

_It is time to recall your bird group and army to make them aware and to be certain they are on their guard. You also know what else it is time for you to do now._

_We shall be arriving back in England within the next few days, at which point we will arrange a meeting between us and yourself._

_DO NOT FORGET LILY’S WORDS!_

_HP_

***HP &GW***

Albus Dumbledore placed the letter down on his desk and, pushing his glasses up, rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had read the letter three times since it had been delivered to him by a house-elf, and it had only left him with many decisions to make and quickly.

He wasn’t surprised that the informant knew that he was already aware of Lord Voldemort’s return. His Potions Master, and spy for the Order of the Phoenix, had notified him promptly when the Dark Mark had burned black for the first time in five years. Thanks to Severus Snape, Albus was already aware of the ritual that had been used and the state that Voldemort had been left in following him regaining his body. However, he had been taken aback by the fact that the writer had been aware that he had yet to recall the Order. He hadn’t informed anyone of Voldemort’s return, knowing just how badly that had gone the last time he had regained his body. If everything went roughly to plan, though, Voldemort would be vanquished for good before the Ministry were even truly made aware of his latest return, let alone even willing to accept it as fact.

The reason he had so far stalled was not because he had been waiting on this letter, something he knew would come, but because he was avoiding what he, and the writer, knew needed to be done. Albus had been keeping the truth secret for five years now and with every additional day that passed, it became harder for him to reveal it. Admittedly, he had been shocked when he had been informed, and yet it had made so much sense and had explained much of his own misunderstandings and mistakes. However, while he knew most people would react similar to him when he finally revealed the truth, he knew two people who would more than likely refuse to accept it and that was his main reason for avoiding doing what needed to be done, despite the fact he had been asked to reveal it when the time came.

Lily’s words.

Albus sighed in resignation as the words of his late student crossed his mind. He had to finish fixing the mistakes he’d made and revealing the truth would hopefully fix the biggest one of them all. He could no longer avoid it, no matter how much he wanted to, it needed to be done.

He lifted his wand and summoned a small box from the shelf, next to where the Sorting Hat sat. Catching it, he placed it on his desk and opened it to reveal a gold Galleon. Inspired by the ingenious use of the Protean Charm by Dumbledore’s Army, he had arranged for all members of the Order and Dumbledore’s Army to be in possession of one. He had charmed each coin with a variation of the Protean Charm, that he had personally created, so that the messages would disappear when the owner’s thumb brushed over it. He had done this to minimise the risk of the messages being seen, while also allowing for more variety in messages to be sent. Concentrating hard, as the charm required, he sent the most basic message he could, while still revealing what needed to be said – HE RETURNS.

Knowing a full meeting of both groups would happen once his informant and friends had arrived back in the country, he set about arranging a meeting for a select group of people to make a start towards fixing the worst of his mistakes. Albus quickly penned a note requesting their presence, plus an additional one to the owner of Headquarters to request its use once more, and duplicated it the necessary number of times, before calling on Fawkes, his loyal phoenix, to deliver each message directly to the recipients. Even if Voldemort had yet to make a move, he would not take any chances with the delivery of the message.

As Fawkes flamed away, Albus leaned back in his chair and decided that, once this whole mess was finally over, it was time to retire and enjoy the little of his life that he had left.

***HP &GW***

Following in behind his fellow professors, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, for the first time in five years. He immediately allowed his eyes to sweep the room as he noted how everyone he had written to had attended the meeting as requested. 

His eyes landed on James Potter, a man who had changed immensely following the death of his wife and being left to raise two boys by himself. The man had fallen into old habits when one of his sons had been declared as the Boy Who Lived by _The Daily Prophet_ , though he had not fallen so far that he had allowed the fame to go to his head. He had been protective of his sons but had allowed himself to become consumed by the need to train one son to the point of forgetting the needs of the other. They had not had much contact in the last couple of years, so he was unaware of how he would react to the news that they had all been wrong about so much of the past twenty years. Though, his sources had told him that the head of the Potter family had begun to mellow in the last couple of years, Albus strongly suspected, though, that James would still lose his temper when the truth came out. 

His eyes shifted to Matt Potter, the oldest of the two Potter boys and the wizard who was known as the Boy Who Lived. He was sitting chatting happily with his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, a trio of friends who had been through so many adventures together that it had bonded them deeply. He was grateful for the presence for Matt’s closest friends as they were able to keep him grounded in a way that James’s friends had never been able to do throughout their time at Hogwarts. That was not to say, however, that he didn’t have his moments of arrogance, but it was usually reserved for the Slytherins, most specifically Draco Malfoy. Reports from Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody - both of whom were present at tonight’s meeting - noted that Matt was doing well within the Auror Department, accepting his place within the hierarchy and working hard to improve his skills and close cases. If anything, Matt was more likely to accept what was needed to be said without argument, though not without questions. 

Taking one last look around the room, and allowing himself to subtly nod his head in thanks to Sirius Black as he did so, Albus stepped up to head of the table and called for quiet.

“My apologies for the urgency and short notice of this meeting,” he began, “but, as you have been made aware by your Galleons, Lord Voldemort has regained his body once again.”

Thankfully, the room did not erupt in shock or anger, allowing Albus to continue moving the meeting forward. However, before he was able to, he was unsurprisingly interrupted.

“Where did you receive this information from?” James Potter asked, his question silencing everyone. “From what I can gather, there has been no unexplained activity or disappearances that could even be connected to him.”

“Like you, James, I have my sources,” Albus replied politely. “The confirmation of his return, however, came from two sources. The first of them is in this room – Severus, would you please show the room the proof of Voldemort’s return?”

Snape stood up from his chair at the back room and pulled up his left sleeve. There, as clear as day, was the Dark Mark for all to see. No one could deny that it was definitive proof that Voldemort had returned yet again. 

“Thank you, Severus,” Albus said. 

Snape immediately put down his sleeve and retook his seat at the table. 

“Severus came to me several days ago, just minutes after the Dark Mark had burned black to signify Voldemort regaining his body,” Albus explained to the group. “We have no reason to believe that anyone else, bar his followers and my other source, are currently aware of his return. Severus, if you may?”

“Certainly, Headmaster,” Snape responded as he stood to address the Order. “As the headmaster has already stated, the Dark Mark burned black a few days ago. I notified Professor Dumbledore of this development before returning to the Dark Lord’s side. As expected, only those who escaped custody after the battle at Hogwarts remain in service currently. I suspect there will be an attempt, at some point, to break out those in Azkaban.”

“We’ll increase security, noting an anonymous source,” Moody stated, looking to Kingsley Shacklebolt to make sure he agreed and would make it a priority.

“You should have time to make the necessary improvements,” Snape responded. “It appears that the ritual used to return the Dark Lord to his body went wrong somehow.”

Most were confused by this turn of events, though others either looked to Dumbledore or Snape in hope that this could be used to their advantage.

“Severus, what does this mean for us?” Remus Lupin asked, who was sitting between Matt and James. “Will this allow us to prevent him moving forward from his plans?”

Severus sighed, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” James snapped at his long-term rival.

“Exactly that, Potter!” Severus immediately bit back. “I don’t know what this means for us or for him. The Dark Lord is refusing to admit to any weaknesses or any potential thoughts he has on why the ritual went wrong. Despite our forward planning, he was still able to obtain everything he needed for the same ritual he used previously. Wormtail performed the ritual exactly as he did previously, but he, too, refuses to speak of what could have possibly gone wrong. Until I know what he did wrong, I cannot possibly figure out what it means for anyone in the long term.”

“Thank you, Severus,” Albus said before anyone else could respond. “I believe my other source may know the reasoning behind why the ritual went wrong. Once they have returned to England, I will have them speak with you about it.”

Severus nodded in response and immediately took his seat without argument.

“Due to the fact that we have very little knowledge, I am requesting that everyone remains vigilant while keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity or disappearances,” Albus continued. “Once more information becomes available to us, we will then make a plan on how to proceed. I will also not be informing the Ministry of his return due to the lack of belief in his original return. I highly doubt they would believe us now, even with the change in Ministry personnel.”

When no one refuted his suggestions, Albus continued, “For now, I will answer any questions or queries anyone has.”

“Why did Voldemort not use me again for the ritual, Professor?” Matt Potter asked before anyone else could speak up.

Albus froze for a second, knowing that the time was fast approaching when he would have to reveal the truth he had been hiding from the young man for the past five years. He knew he would not be able to stall as he would be called out by the only other person in the room who knew the full extent of what he needed to admit to. However, he knew making sure Matt understood as much as he could was key to him accepting the coming turn of events.

“My source informed me that it was, in fact, your twin brother, Harry, who was used for the ritual,” Albus finally answered. “I cannot say why he chose Harry over yourself, because either of you would have been preferable to anyone else as you both carry the protection from your mother’s sacrifice that night. I believe that he felt you would have been better protected by those around you this time round and Harry was easily accessible due to his travelling through the continent.”

“Did he…?” Matt gulped, scared to ask the question whose answer he feared. “Did Harry escape? Was he unharmed?”

“Unharmed, no,” Albus confirmed, “but alive nonetheless.”

Matt sighed in relief, genuinely concerned for his brother despite the breakdown of their relationship once they had begun attending Hogwarts. However, something about his former Headmaster’s words stuck with him, reminding him of Voldemort’s previous return.

“Sir, is Harry your other source?”

Silence hung in the air at Matt’s question, before several gasps broke it as the realisation hit many of those in attendance that what Matt had asked made the most sense.

“Well, is it true, Dumbledore?” James angrily asked, having spent years trying to keep at least one of his sons away from the war between themselves and Voldemort. “Have you managed to drag the one child I have protected from all this into this godforsaken mess?”

“Tell them,” a voice came, from the last person anyone could have expected. “Tell them or I will.”

James’ eyes flickered across to stare at his best friend, shocked and confused at the threat Sirius had just made.

“Yes,” Albus sighed in defeat, “Harry is my source. He has been involved in this ‘godforsaken mess’, as you so eloquently put it, James, for many more years than most people realise. He notified me of Voldemort’s return at the first moment he was able to, having needed the time to recover from his injuries and exhaustion.”

The room remained silent, shocked by the Headmaster’s revelation, not knowing there was more to come. Only three people, besides Albus, showed no reaction – Sirius, Arthur and Molly – all three having been notified by Harry, himself, about Voldemort’s return on the same day he had notified the headmaster. However, no one seemed to notice their lack of reaction as they all tried to piece together what is was Albus was trying to say.

James, in his anger at Albus, seemed to forget for the moment that his best friend seemed to be aware of this little fact and had not felt the need to inform him. He instead chose to end the silence that seemed to continue to drag on.

“Why hide this?” he demanded to know. “Why drag him into all of this when you knew I wanted him kept away from it? I do not need to be worrying about him when Matt needs to restart his training to finish off Voldemort once and for all.”

“Matt will not be training for anything,” Albus stated clearly without argument. “There is a rough plan in place for Voldemort’s final defeat and for it to be done quickly and quietly. Once I have all the necessary information from Harry and Severus, it will be finalised.”

Even as protests came from many of those in attendance, with James, Remus and Ron being the loudest, Albus pushed on, knowing it was now time to reveal the truth, “I confess that I made a big mistake many years ago. In fact, we all did when we allowed ourselves to be convinced by the rumours that _The Daily Prophet_ spread about Matt being the Boy Who Lived. That night, when I looked at their scars, I was not certain as to who had been the one to survive Voldemort’s curse, but before I had the time to take a closer look at their scars, the story was already out there – Matt was considered to be the Boy Who Lived. It was only bolstered over the years by Matt’s sense of adventure and how he was always caught up in much of the trouble that Voldemort caused. I made the mistake of allowing myself to believe the rumours to be true, that Matt was the child who survived Voldemort’s cursed that night and was the one to cause his downfall…”

“…when, in fact, Harry was the Boy Who Lived,” Hermione said, finishing Albus’ confession for him. “He was the one named in the Prophecy. He was born as the seventh month dies, the youngest of the twins, but it was so easy to overlook him. He always kept to himself at Hogwarts and easily slipped into the background because he was so shy and quiet.”  
Hermione looked around the room, her gaze ending at her best friend. She knew that he did not feel like he was the one who had been named to defeat Voldemort, always feeling the pressure and the expectations around him to step up when it mattered. His fears and concerns had been right all along, and she feared what it might to do him, that he would make a drastic decision that would cause problems for everyone.

“She’s right,” Sirius quietly confirmed. “Both Harry and I have known the truth for years.”

“No! No, no, no, NO!” James muttered before turning on Sirius. “I refuse to believe it! I refuse to believe you, or Harry, would keep something as important as this from me, from Matt! Anyway, there is no   
way we can be wrong. Matt has faced Voldemort three times and lived to tell the tale!”

The occupants of the room began to mutter amongst themselves, trying to figure out who was right or trying to understand how any of them could have made such a mistake. James continued to mutter to himself, refusing to accept the revelation, while Matt just stared straight ahead, not giving away how he was feeling. That was until someone smacking the table hard with two hands shocked them all.

“Harry has faced Voldemort as well!” Sirius snapped at James. “He has faced him multiple times and lived to tell the tale! He was the one to solve the riddle of the Chamber of Secrets and rescue little Ginny Weasley from certain death! He was the one who notified the Order, through me, when Arthur was attacked by Nagini! He was the one to notify the Order, once again, when Death Eaters appeared in the Department of Mysteries! And, he was the one who reduced Voldemort to a Wraith once again, when he and the Death Eaters infiltrated Hogwarts! So, you tell me, who really is the Boy Who Lived? Matt or Harry?”

James was too shocked to respond. No one responded as all of them could sense this was something Sirius had been holding in for years and he needed to get it off his chest. Even as Tonks turned to plead with Albus to stop Sirius from going too far, it was obvious that Sirius was going to continue now he had their attention.

“Let’s make this clear now, James, so you know just how much you seemed to have overlooked when it comes to Harry: it was ME, not you, who raised him! It was ME who was there for him when he needed advice! It was ME he turned to when he realised the truth about who he was and what his scar might mean! It was ME, NOT YOU!”  
Sirius paused and took a deep breath, knowing he needed to keep going and make sure James understood the consequences of the decisions he made over the years.

“Despite how much you tried to protect him, to keep him away from all of this, Harry was deeply entrenched in it all from the moment Voldemort decided to attack you and Lily! The moment that curse rebounded onto Voldemort sealed Harry’s fate! Harry has worked tirelessly, and continues to do so, to do what needed to be done, going as far to sacrifice himself because he knew it needed to be done if he was going to protect the people he loved. And yet, Harry went and survived the Killing Curse again!” 

“I don’t understand,” James muttered into response to all the information Sirius had just unloaded on him. No one else, not even Matt, made to intervene between the two old friends. “Have I failed Harry? Why didn’t he tell me?”

Sirius looked around the room, not responding to James’ questions, noting the shock and confusion on all but Molly, Arthur and Albus’s faces. He was disgusted that all of them, but especially James and Matt, could overlook someone as special as his godson. He stood from his seat, no long feeling comfortable in the house he owned, and walked towards the door to leave. As he reached it, he stopped and turned, looking directly at James.

“Harry deserved so much better from you, James, and from you, Matt. You two, of all people, were the people he should have been able to rely on, to trust to be there for him, but you failed him! Lily would be so disappointed in the both of you!”

And with that, Sirius left behind a room full of shocked and confused occupants.


	2. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius visits Harry, following his godson's return to the country, and discuss some important issues that can no longer be avoided.

**July 2002 …**

A loud pop broke the silence of the South Welsh Valleys as a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Quickly gaining his bearings, the man looked around to make sure he had not been seen, something that was unlikely given where he was. No one, at least to the Muggles’ knowledge, lived in the area as Sirius Black quickly discovered as he checked the area that he had Apparated to. 

Pulling out the letter that he had been sent by his godson the previous day, Sirius couldn’t help but wonder if he had come to the right place. He groaned loudly as he reached the part that confirmed that he would not immediately be able to see the house or any indication to suggest that anyone, wizard or Muggle, lived in the area as the house had been put under the Fidelius Charm and multiple wards for the time being. 

Just as he spotted the two tree stumps, he had been told to look for, that lay on either side of a small discreet pathway, Draco Malfoy appeared to step out of nowhere. With no word of a warning, Sirius suddenly found himself with a wand pointing right at him.

“What were Lily’s words to me?” Draco asked, a guarded look on his face.

“To trust Harry and accept his friendship,” Sirius answered without hesitation. 

Draco simply nodded before dropping his wand and passing Sirius a small slip of parchment.

_Harry Potter lives at Evans Cottage in the South Welsh Valleys._

Sirius burned the slip immediately before looking up to see a small cottage appear in front of him. He smiled briefly at the sight of the quaint building, not surprised at the choice of home Harry had chosen, before following Draco down the small footpath and up to the front the property.

“Have you been to see your mum yet?” Sirius asked just as Draco opened the front door.

Draco paused, turning his head as he replied, “Not yet, but I have notified her that I am back in the country.”

“Good,” Sirius chuckled in response. “I don’t need a lecture from her if she finds out I saw you before she was even aware of you being home.”

Draco laughed at the thought of his mum lecturing Sirius as he led them into the house and through the living room where two people were sitting, curled up together, on the sofa.

“Are you going to ignore your visitor, then?” Draco teased the couple as he approached them from behind. 

Harry sprang up from his seat and rushed round the sofa in excitement.

“Uncle Sirius!” he cried in excitement at seeing his godfather for the first time in several years. 

“Harry!” Sirius responded in kind as he wrapped the younger man in a hug.

Sirius pulled back after a few seconds, keeping a hold on his godson’s shoulders as he took a good look at him. He was happy to see he was looking happy and healthy, though he suspected Molly would think he hadn’t eaten as well as he could have while he was travelling and would be determined to fatten him up over the next few months.

“It seems that travelling has been good for you,” Sirius said as he noticed the other person standing and coming around the sofa to greet him. “Or perhaps it might be the beautiful girlfriend you have that has done you the world of good.”

Harry looked round to see Ginny coming up behind him and reached out a hand to her, which she immediately took.

“Well, I think it might be more to do with the fact that Ginny agreed to marry me,” Harry casually told his godfather, as though it was no big deal.

“You’re engaged?” he responded in shock. “I honestly expected to come here today to be told you two had gotten married! Still, CONGRATULATIONS!”

He swept the engaged couple into a hug, grateful Harry had someone who made him feel happy and loved.

“You’re not surprised either?” Draco laughed. “I honestly thought the moment Ginny said yes, they would be married within days. I am amazed by their patience to wait given how long they have been together.”

“Do you honestly think my mother would forgive me if Harry and I just ran off and got married without telling her?” Ginny asked in response.

Each man gulped at the question, none of them wishing to be on the end of one of Molly Weasley’s lectures about what they did wrong. 

“I know Molly knows you are back,” Sirius continued once he had composed himself. “I can only presume that you have already made arrangements to see her before getting down to the task you came back to complete.”

“Yes, Sirius,” Ginny replied. “We, as in myself, Harry and Draco, are joining the family for lunch on Sunday.”

“That will be fun,” Harry muttered under his breath, earning himself a glare from his fiancée and a momentary confused look from his godfather.

“Ah, the whole family is going to be there,” Sirius realised, “and you’re worried about how certain members of the family are going to react to your relationship. That’s not even mentioning how Ron is going to explode when Draco arrives with you.”

“Yeah, that would be it in a nutshell,” Draco said as he avoided looking at Ginny to avoid another lecture about how he would be fine.

Sirius gave Ginny a look that said, “Are they serious?” to which Ginny nodded while holding back the laugh that was threatening to escape her lips.

Sirius immediately turned on Harry, a serious look on his face, “If you’re telling me you are far more scared of your fiancée’s brothers than you ever were when you faced Voldemort, then you are beyond my help. Suck it up and be the Gryffindor I know you are. And as for you …”

Sirius turned and looked at Draco. “I know there is animosity between your two families, but that was mainly because of your father. That’s not to say your behaviour didn’t help, because we both know that it did, but you need to remember that you are not the same person you were back then. Molly and Arthur both know this. Molly adores you and loves having you over at The Burrow and don’t think I don’t know about the letters you and Arthur exchanged in your final year at Hogwarts when you were struggling to move on from the mistakes you made.”

Draco could only gape at Sirius in shock, not having been aware that he had known about those letters.

“We all know Ginny’s brothers are prone to cowering in fear when she points her wand at them,” Sirius continued. “If they complain, moan or even try to threaten either of you, then it won’t be just Ginny’s wand they will be worrying about, it will be Molly’s too.”

Neither Harry, nor Draco spoke, both too shocked by Sirius’ words.

“Well, now that’s been dealt with,” Ginny said, an amused look on her face, “why don’t we go and have lunch and catch up with one another?”

***HP &GW***

“So,” Sirius said as he put his bottle of Butterbeer down, “when do you plan to get married?”

The group of four were sitting around the kitchen table, having just enjoyed a nice lunch of chicken, potatoes and salad, which had been made by Harry, while catching each other up with what had been going on, who was dating whom and discussing all the adventures the trio had while travelling.

“The wedding is on hold for the moment,” Harry stated firmly, making clear to Sirius that nothing would change his mind on this. “Until we have put a permanent end to Voldemort, we have decided to wait for the moment. I don’t want the day we marry to be spoiled by the potential threat of Voldemort and his minions.”

Sirius nodded his understanding. He remembered Lily and James’s wedding and the nervous tension that surrounded their wedding day. While nothing had happened, thankfully, he knew many of the guests had been on edge that something would happen. He certainly didn’t want that for his godson’s wedding day.

“To be honest, if we end things as quickly as we believe we can, I won’t have to spend every day fighting with my mum about us setting a date,” Ginny noted. “I can, at least, give her a provisional date for next year, knowing that I can delay most of the decisions we will need to make for several months.”

Draco’s eyes flickered over to Harry and, with a small smirk on his face, said, “You’re on own when you two tell Molly that. I flat out refuse to back you up in that situation.”

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend’s comment. Before he could make a cheeky comment in return, Sirius blindsided him with a question he had hoped to avoid for the moment.

“Do you plan to fix your relationship with your father and your brother before or after Voldemort has been defeated?”

Draco and Ginny, both of whom had asked Harry the same question numerous times, turned to look at Harry in anticipation of an actual answer. 

Harry sighed in defeat, knowing he could no longer put off this conversation. It had been easy to do so with Draco and Ginny as they had never pushed him to answer when they did ask him. He knew he would have to at least be on civil terms if he was going to approach the Order for support and help with the plan they had to bring down Voldemort.

“I don’t know, Sirius,” Harry finally answered. “It still hurts that they constantly forgot about me, that they pushed my needs aside and that they… well, more Dad, tried to keep me out and away from everything.”

“He was only trying to protect you, Harry,” Sirius responded, surprising even himself that he was defending James for the mistakes he made with Harry.

“I know that, Sirius,” Harry snapped. “It’s also one of the reasons why I hid so much from Dad and Matt; I just wanted to protect them from the dangerous knowledge we had about Voldemort.”

He sighed as he dropped his head into his hands, his elbows resting on the kitchen table.

“This would have been easier had I been able to tell Dad what I discovered,” Harry finally continued. “Perhaps I should have tried harder to tell him or Matt, rather than letting them brush me off every time I tried to say something. I just gave up in the end, because they were never going to listen to me.”

“He brushed me off, too, Harry, when I tried to tell him he needed to listen to you, listen to what you knew,” Sirius replied, a tinge of regret in his words. “James insisted that you were to be kept away from everything and anything to do with Voldemort. He became more and more consumed by the need to train your brother for a fight that, we know now, was never his to fight. So, like you, I gave up trying and, instead, chose to support you, help you, make sure you were ready to do what needed to be done when the time came.”

“Neither of you are to blame,” Ginny said as she reached out and took her fiancée’s hand. “It’s clear there has been a serious breakdown of communication between yourselves, James and Matt. If anyone is to blame, it’s Voldemort. He thrives on tearing friends and families apart and he has succeeded here in a way I doubt even he could have predicted.”

Sirius smiled at Ginny’s words, knowing she was right. Looking over at his godson, he could see, however, Harry was struggling to accept her reasoning.

“What about Matt, though?” Harry questioned. “He was my best friend as a child, before we started Hogwarts, even when Dad had started to explain and teach Matt about what he thought his destiny was. He began to pull away from me when we began Hogwarts and he had made friends with Ron and Hermione. Once he had faced Voldemort, though, at the end of our first year and saved the Philosopher’s Stone, it was like I didn’t exist to them anymore.”

Harry looked directly at his fiancée, godfather and best friend, one by one, asking with his eyes why his friendship with his twin brother had broken down.

“I want to say it is because he is the product of his own upbringing, like I was,” Draco answered. “Matt and I may have never gotten along…”

Ginny snorted, “Gotten along? Try again, Malfoy.”

“Ok, we hated one another,” Draco said, correcting himself to the amusement of the room, “but even I could tell he was a decent person who would do anything for those he loved, just like you are. He thought he was protecting you, but by doing so, he pushed you away without even realising it.”

“You need to talk it out, though, with both your Dad and Matt,” Ginny continued, pleased they were getting through to Harry after trying for years to get him to make amends with his family. “Explain to them how it made you feel, how it hurt you, but make sure to explain to them that you understand because you chose to protect everyone by keeping the information you had to yourself and those you were closest to.”

“But, what if…” Harry began to ask.

“No. No what ifs, Harry,” Sirius interrupted. “There is no guarantee that we could have ended the war permanently at an earlier date had we told them sooner. We need to put the past behind us for now and move forward with our plans to finish off Voldemort, so we can all live a life in peace and without fear.”

The three friends nodded in agreement.

“So, moving on to Horcruxes,” Sirius continued, “how much more progress have you made?”

Harry closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts and feelings about his dad and brother from his head. When he was ready, he opened his eyes and responded.

“I wish I could tell you we have made plenty of progress and can go straight to planning destroying Voldemort once and for all, but I can’t,” Harry answered honestly. “In addition to the diary, locket, diadem and myself, we have only managed to destroy one more Horcrux.”

“Which one?” Sirius asked.

“The ring. It took us a long time to find the right spell we needed to remove one of the curses we had discovered when we finally thought we had everything in place to retrieve it. There was a nasty curse on the ring that would have slowly killed us had we picked it up and put it on. I am amazed we were able to fight the Compulsion Charm to put it on.”

Sirius was shocked that just one curse had caused them such a delay in retrieving one Horcrux. He knew he could ask why they had not consulted with Dumbledore regarding the matter, but Harry had made it clear that he wanted to minimise all contact with his former Headmaster to avoid raising suspicions. However, before Harry and Draco had left Hogwarts, Dumbledore had given them every piece of information he had managed to find on Voldemort, his past and his movements throughout the years.

“Before you ask, I honestly would have gone to Dumbledore for help had it not been for the fact that the ring contained the Resurrection Stone,” Harry continued, causing Sirius’ jaw to drop. “I was not risking him coming to harm all for the potential to get his hands on an unfulfilled dream of his.”

“That makes sense. What about the final two Horcruxes? Have you confirmed what we thought they were? Do you know where they are?”

“Nagini is definitely a Horcrux,” Ginny responded. “The way she responded to Voldemort when he regained his body was unnatural, even for a snake. We couldn’t get as close as we wanted to destroy her when we went to rescue Harry.”

“Rescue me?” Harry questioned. “I would have managed to escape without your help after what happened with my and Voldemort’s wands. Even then, he was in no shape to do much damage to me after I managed to make sure the ritual was messed up enough to cause him harm.”

Ginny glared at him. “You probably would have escaped without help, but I wasn’t about to stand around waiting for you to escape.”

“Fine,” Harry said, throwing his hands up in defeat, knowing full well Ginny was not one to sit around and not be part of the fight.

“Anyway, we are leaving her for last,” Ginny continued. “We figure if we can distract Voldemort long enough, when we finally confront him, then we will stand a chance of getting to Nagini. Hopefully, then,   
Harry can finish off Voldemort within seconds, if not minutes, of us having destroyed her.”

“Agreed,” Sirius replied. “He is going to keep her close from now on. This would have been easier had Nagini been at Hogwarts that night, but I think we can make that plan work. What about the Cup?”

“That’s where this gets tricky,” Draco admitted. “We have been thinking for a while that it was probably in the possession of another Death Eater, like the diary was with my father, so I contacted my mum to see if she could look into it, see if there was evidence to suggest my Aunt was given the cup to look after.”

Sirius nodded, not remotely surprised that Bellatrix was likely to be in possession of the cup.

“Mum cannot access any vault but the Malfoy one, but she found some papers outlining the full content of the Lestrange Vault. Noted near the end of the list was a golden cup with notable features of an engraved badger and two handles.”

“Ah, I believe I see the tricky part here,” Sirius said as he realised how complicated this could get.

“We have a plan to procure it,” Draco confirmed. “You are just one person who could potentially help us get our hands on it without the need to do something very stupid and dangerous.”

“That I can help with,” Sirius replied, “but I suspect I know what your back-up plan is, and I really hope the first plan works because I don’t think it is a clever idea to anger the goblins. However, I do have just one question.”

“What would be that be?” Harry asked.

“Why now? Why wait to retrieve the cup until now?” Sirius questioned them, genuinely confused as to why they would have left something they could have destroyed long before now. 

“The only time we came back into the country, after Ginny had joined us on our travels, was to deal with the Gaunt Shack,” Harry answered in response. “Had the Cup been elsewhere, somewhere more inconspicuous than Gringotts, we would have dealt with it earlier. It wasn’t, though, so we decided to wait until we came back and we knew everyone who could potentially help retrieve it was also in the same place at the same time as us. That just happens to be this summer, based on the timeline we were working with.”

“We have been able to enjoy travelling the world, exploring new cultures, learning new magic, while doing it in the company of those we love,” Ginny said, taking over from Harry. “All of that in addition to researching the necessary spells we needed to safely retrieve the ring and other spells we can use when we finally bring down Voldemort. Admittedly, I do think it is time for us to settle down and begin the next part of lives together.”

Sirius smiled in response to what Ginny had said about her and Harry settling down. He could only hope that would mean babies for him to spoil and to help him further the cause of the Marauders.

“If you think about it, though,” Draco said, snapping Sirius out of his dreams for his godson, “we didn’t even begin the work necessary to access the Gaunt House until after Ginny joined us. We spent the first year going over everything Dumbledore had given us, checking the suggestions he had made for hiding places that we had not yet visited.”

“Would love to say the cave was fun to discover, but the Inferi sort of dampened that adventure,” Harry said with a shiver.

The room was quiet for a moment as all four occupants’ minds thought about what they had discovered and how it had matched up to Kreacher’s story about Regulus and the locket. 

“Anyway,” Draco spoke again, breaking through the morose thoughts of everyone, “by the time my mum had been able to provide an answer about the cup, there just didn’t seem much point in returning to deal with it until this summer.”

“When was that?”

“Just before Christmas.”

“It also made sense to leave Gringotts until now to avoid any chance of a goblin, witch or wizard sympathetic to Voldemort’s cause from revealing we have removed something from a vault that does not belong to us,” Harry explained.

Sirius thought over everything they had just explained and was impressed with the decisions they had made. None of his sources and contacts had given him any information to suggest the three had been followed or discovered in any of their activities. The only time they had was when it had been too late to warn Harry of the plan to get to him to help resurrect Voldemort once again.

“I cannot fault any of your reasoning,” he finally commented, “especially as none of my usual contacts have mentioned anything to do with the three of you over the last three years.”

Harry could only breathe a sigh a relief on hearing that. They had taken steps to make sure they could travel without being recognised, whether it was changing their names or using disguises of some kind. He didn’t dare tell his godfather, however, that they had purposefully worked towards having Voldemort kidnap him as to avoid taking Matt once again, or any other magical being for that matter. The only thing they had not planned, what they couldn’t plan for, was when it would happen, so it still managed to catch them off-guard when he was kidnapped.

“We need to discuss arranging a meeting with the Order,” Sirius continued, changing the subject. “I am not quite sure how some people are going to take you three coming in and taking charge of what happens next, especially if the last meeting is anything to go by.”

“I am going to take a wild guess and say my dad was not happy with what Dumbledore had to say.”

Sirius nodded and explained what had happened at the meeting.

“Admittedly, I probably shouldn’t have taken my anger out on your dad,” Sirius stated with regret, “but, as always, your dad was more consumed by the need to make sure your brother is prepared. I think everyone else will be willing to work with you, but you need to explain everything, or they will not comply with any plan willingly.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Harry questioned his godfather. “I am going to need to talk my dad and Matt and, at best, call a truce between us. There is too much at stake for them to go and do something that could potentially set us back years.”

“You understand that you can’t keep them away from being a part of this fight, though?” Ginny said, much to Harry’s shock. “It would be like asking me not to fight. Your dad and Matt, just like me, deserve the chance to be a part of bringing Voldemort down, once and for all, especially after everything they have been through and how much they have done to help so far.”

Harry could only stare at Ginny with wide eyes, shocked that she was speaking for his father and brother. While he had no intention of keeping them away from the fight, knowing how much losing Lily had affected the three of them, he still hadn’t figured out how they could play a part without interfering with what he, personally, needed to do.

“I accept that they both deserve to be involved,” Harry finally answered, “but, you all know that they will want to be heavily involved after everything we have been through, especially with us losing Mum.”

“That we will deal with, Harry,” Draco replied. “Even if it means my role in helping is purely fighting his Death Eaters, just so your Dad and Matt can do something more important, then so be it.”

Sirius, sensing the potential for an argument, spoke up, “We can deal with who is doing what later. Right now, your main priority is to meet with Dumbledore. I have already set the meeting for next week, with the intention of the three of you meeting with those of the Order I have felt need to be told the full story and your involvement. We can arrange a meeting to put the plan together for Voldemort’s destruction once we have dealt with the Cup.”

Sensing no complaints or disagreements from them, he decided to ask the question that had bothered him for years, despite Harry’s previous reassurances.

“I know you have heard this, many times now, Harry, but are you absolutely certain that your brother is not another accidental Horcrux?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry's friendship with Draco and his relationship with Ginny will be explained and explored further in later chapters.


	3. The Unknown Wizard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to May/June 1993: Harry rescues Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets.

**May – June 1993…**

“There’s no one to help you now, Harry Potter.”

Harry ignored the taunting words of Tom Riddle as he stumbled towards where Ginny lay. He could only hope that he could figure out a way to save her before the Basilisk venom finally killed him. His mind was swirling, and his vision was foggy, but he managed to reach Ginny, collapsing beside her.

“Harry Potter, brother of the Boy Who Lived, left to die alone and no one will ever know.”

Harry knew what Riddle said wasn’t true. His own father and brother may have forgotten about him, but his godfather had not. He could only hope that Sirius knew how much Harry loved him, how much he appreciated everything he had done for him, how he had been there for him when his own father had not. The only thing Harry would regret was the fact he would not be able to pass on the information he had learned from Tom Riddle.

“… and all because little Ginny decided to write in my diary,” Riddle finished saying, not realising Harry had not been listening.

Looking towards Ginny, hating himself for not being able to save her, Harry noticed the diary. Within seconds, everything seemed to suddenly fall into place for him. The diary was at the centre of everything that had happened over the course of the school year – it needed to be destroyed. He may not be able to save himself, but perhaps by destroying the diary, he could save Ginny. However, he was feeling weaker and weaker by the minute, leaving him with no strength to get to the diary and no idea how he could.

Just as Harry closed his eyes, ignoring the maniacal laughter of Tom Riddle, he felt something drop into his lap. He opened his eyes and looked down to see the diary there and Fawkes standing in front of him, nudging the hand that still held the Basilisk fang he’d pulled from his arm. 

“NO!” Riddle screamed as he realised what Harry was about to do.

Looking between the diary and the fang, Harry knew what he needed to do. With what little strength he had left, Harry brought the fang up and quickly plunged it deep into the diary.

A scream pierced the air as ink began to spurt from the book and into his lap. Harry watched in fascination as the shade of Tom Riddle fought his destruction. Within seconds, Tom Riddle was gone, and Harry’s eyes had slipped shut out of exhaustion and from the venom that had him close to death.

Wishing with all his heart that his godfather, brother and father would be able to move forward and finish Voldemort for good, Harry gave in and waited for death to take him. The dizziness and the exhaustion ebbed away, allowing Harry to open his eyes for, what he thought would be, one last glance at the youngest Weasley. However, he discovered his vision and mind were both clearer and that his strength and energy were quickly returning to his body. 

Looking down at his arm, Harry was shocked to find no sign of where it had been pierced by the fang. He realised, remembering what he had learnt about Phoenixes when he was younger, that Fawkes must have cried into the wound and healed him.

“Thank you, Fawkes,” he whispered in awe.

A slight groan caused Harry to look away and towards Ginny. Noticing her beginning to wake up, he quickly jumped up, tucked the diary away in his robes and collected the sword from where he had dropped it. He then walked over to Ginny, wishing he could keep his part in this secret, but knowing that it might not be possible.

Ginny shot up straight and looked around wildly as though she was looking for something or someone.

“Where’s Tom?” she asked, though not realising at that moment who her rescuer was.

Harry crouched beside the scared young girl, ready to answer her question, only for her to look at him for a split second before she collapsed into his arms, exhausted from her ordeal.

“Fawkes?” Harry called, looking over at the Phoenix. “Can you take me and Ginny to the hospital wing, please?”

The Phoenix spread its wings and took flight. It circled the two children a couple of times before swooping down nearby and picking up the Sorting Hat in its beak. By the time Fawkes had flown back to them, Harry had a comfortable hold on Ginny and the sword. Grabbing hold of Harry’s shoulder with his feet, Fawkes flashed them away from the Chamber, directly to the hospital wing.

**HP &GW**

Half an hour later, Harry was back in the Gryffindor tower, having been flashed directly back to the second-year boys’ dormitory. He had managed to get Ginny onto a bed and sneak out of the hospital wing without Madam Pomfrey being alerted. He had been just metres from the door when Fawkes had reappeared, without the Sorting Hat, and had grabbed hold of him before flashing him away from the corridor.

Knowing it was risk to reappear in the common room, where most of the house had gathered waiting for news of any potential rescue of Ginny, Harry had preceded to take a shower and hide any evidence of him having been down in the Chamber of Secrets. He now sat on his bed, the curtains closed, studying the diary that he had destroyed.

Something about it bothered him. How could a memory preserved in a diary have enough power within it to possess the user and force them to set a Basilisk on the inhabitants of the school? It didn’t make sense to him; it didn’t appear possible. There had to be more to this diary than it just containing a memory. The fact it had originally belonged to a teenaged Lord Voldemort was enough to tell him there was something much Darker at play and he knew, therefore, he needed to send the diary to Sirius so he could investigate it further for him.

Deciding the diary was better off hidden until he could get it sent off to Sirius, Harry climbed off the bed and opened his trunk. He carefully placed the diary at the bottom, next to the Sword of Gryffindor that was still in his possession, before casting a spell Sirius had taught him that would hide items he did not want found and would alert him if they were. Once he had taken out some spare parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink, he closed his trunk and climbed back into bed again to begin writing his letter to Sirius.

**HP &GW**

_Dear Sirius,_

_Before I explain the book that has been enclosed with this letter and the events surrounding it being in my possession, I need you to promise not to tell my dad or Professor Dumbledore. You will understand once you read what has happened, but Dad will probably go ballistic if he finds out that I ended up involved with things he wants me away from. As for Dumbledore, I have some worries and suspicions about Matt and I and I would rather he not know anything until we have confirmed my idea either way._

_Last night, though I suspect you may be aware of this already, Ginny Weasley was taken down into the Chamber of Secrets. I tried to stay away and not get involved, but everything suddenly made sense after I heard she was gone. Everything that has bothered me, from me being able to speak Parseltongue, to always being found at the scene of the crime every time someone had been petrified, it all suddenly clicked._

_The monster that was hidden in the Chamber was a SNAKE!_

_If you haven’t figured it out yet, then I will hold my hands up and admit that I was the one to rescue Ginny. (Don’t worry, I made sure to be included in the head count when the Prefects were asked to check if anyone else was missing.) Once I realised what was Petrifying the students and why I was able to hear it, I just knew I had to be one the rescue her. If none of the teachers could find the Chamber, then it made sense that even if they found the entrance to it, they probably wouldn’t be able to open it. I was right – you needed to be a Parselmouth in order to gain entry._

_I won’t go into too much detail of everything that happened down there, but I managed to kill the Basilisk (yes, that is what it was) and destroy the diary._

_Ginny was the one to open the Chamber and release the Basilisk on the students. She isn’t to blame, though. She was being controlled by the diary she had been writing in – a diary that belonged to a former student by the name of Tom Riddle. He had managed to form a physical presence outside of the diary, having placed his memory inside the diary and using Ginny’s soul to gain strength. Have you ever heard of a memory having that sort of power? I doubt it._

_However, this is where it gets disturbing. Tom Riddle is the real name of Lord Voldemort! We both know how powerful he was, so who is to say that diary is much Darker magic than most people are even aware of. You need to investigate it, Sirius, because I think this diary may hold the key to destroying Voldemort properly. And if this is of any help for discovering more about Voldemort, his full name is Tom Marvolo Riddle and he grew up in an orphanage._

_As for my worries and suspicions about me and Matt, well… I think everyone is wrong about who is the Boy Who Lived. Tom felt the need to talk about a lot of things, but he seemed obsessed with the events of Halloween 1981 and how a baby managed to destroy his older self. I know you and Dad sat me and Matt down and told us why and how Mum died, but you never mentioned how you knew Matt was the one to survive the Killing Curse. I know we both have scars, but Matt’s doesn’t cause him pain like mine does. Why is that?_

_On top of that, why am I able to speak to snakes and Matt doesn’t? Before you ask if I am sure he cannot, wouldn’t Matt also have heard the voice I had heard, found the victims and the chamber like I did? We know there are no known Parselmouths in the Potter family, so is it possible that, somehow, I gained the ability the night Voldemort attacked? Therefore, is it possible that I am, in fact, the Boy Who Lived?_

_Many things just don’t add up, Sirius, and that makes me nervous. Dad was already angry about me being found consistently at the site of the attacks and he has made it clear he doesn’t want me getting involved with everything. If I am right about my suspicions, Dad will refuse to believe it. So, please, help me find out the truth!_

_Love, Harry_

_P.S. I promise I will try to talk to Dad about this if we find out my suspicions are correct._

**HP &GW**

“I need you to take this to Uncle Sirius,” Harry explained to his faithful owl, Hedwig, as he tied the package to her leg. “However, I need you to make sure he is alone or at least not with my dad when you deliver it. This is important, so do not let anyone but Sirius take the parcel from you.”

Just minutes later, Hedwig was flying over the grounds of Hogwarts, making her way towards London. Harry watched until she was out of sight before he made his way out of the Owlery and began to head back to the Gryffindor common room. 

As he walked along the corridor, Harry became lost in thought about Ginny and how she was doing following her ordeal. He was not even aware of how long it had taken for Madam Pomfrey to become aware that Ginny was in the hospital wing and for McGonagall to be notified. He knew from the presence of Professor Dumbledore at breakfast though, that it happened at some point during the night. He only wished now that he could find out what had happened since he had left Ginny asleep in the hospital wing and without anyone else finding out about his involvement.

“So, you are telling me that no one, not even the professors, have any idea how Ginny came to be in the hospital wing?”

Harry looked up, startled to hear someone, who he thought to be Hermione Granger, ask that question. Looking up and down the corridor he was walking down, there was no sign of anyone.

“Ginny doesn’t even know how she ended up there. She told Dumbledore and our parents that the last thing she remembers was being in the Chamber of Secrets before she woke up in the hospital wing.”

Realising that the person responding to the original question was Ron Weasley, Harry knew his brother would be there as well. Torn between not wanting to listen in to what was obviously meant to be a private conversation and his need to know what had happened, Harry knew he needed to make a quick decision to avoid being caught by anyone.

“For once, I can honestly say I had nothing to do with it.”

Hearing his brother’s voice, Harry quickly and quietly moved towards the door from which the voices were coming and positioned himself just inside a small alcove nearby that would allow him to remain hidden.

“I don’t understand,” Hermione responded, confused about what had happened while she had been Petrified. “Are you telling me you were unable to figure out where the Chamber was? I know you found the slip of paper that was in my hand before I Petrified.”

Harry was not remotely surprised to hear that the trio had been trying to figure out the mystery. After the events of last year with the Philosopher’s Stone, he knew Matt would not have been able to let this mystery go until he solved it.

“Of course, we found it, Hermione,” Ron said defensively, “but it wasn’t enough for us to figure out where the entrance to Chamber was. You only told us what you believed was the monster that Slytherin had left inside the Chamber!”

“All we know is that someone managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Matt explained, “and managed to rescue Ginny. If she does know anything, it may be some time before we find out, because she is refusing to say what happened down in the Chamber or how she ended up being taken down there.”

Harry quietly breathed a sigh of relief at knowing his involvement was not known to anyone. Though, he had to admit he was intrigued as to why Ginny hadn’t said anything. She had to know that the diary was behind what had happened to her, so he was confused as to why she hadn’t at least given her parents and Professor Dumbledore the basic story of what had happened over this past school year.

“Do you think that she is protecting whoever rescued her?” Hermione asked, desperate for answers that were not going to be forthcoming anytime soon. “Or perhaps she is protecting herself?”

Harry had a sneaking suspicion as to what Hermione was hinting at. It had been bad enough that he had been accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, based solely on the fact he had been found at the scene after each attack, but to suggest Ginny had willingly attacked anyone seemed just a step too far for Harry. 

“Are you suggesting my sister had something to do with all of those attacks?” 

“That’s not what Hermione is suggesting, Ron!” Matt said forcefully, which Harry suspected included a glare at Hermione for even making that sort of accusation. “Look, we can’t give you anymore answers, right now, and standing here, discussing it is not going to get us those answers. Our best option is to just drop it and be grateful that Ginny is safe and that everyone who was Petrified has been woken up.”

Realising there was a good chance of being found by the trio if he didn’t move soon, Harry quietly slipped out of the alcove and quickly moved as far away from the area as he could. 

Once he felt he was far enough away and that Matt, Ron and Hermione had not walked in the same direction as he had, Harry slipped into another small alcove. Taking a deep breath as he leaned back against the wall, his thoughts wandered back to what he had overheard. While he was grateful that his involvement remained unknown, he was still concerned as to why Ginny had not revealed anything. Was she concerned that she would be accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, just like he had earlier on in the year? Considering he now had possession of the diary, he couldn’t help but think that Ginny may have thought no one would believe her without evidence to back up her claims. While he knew he was not the Heir of Slytherin, knowing he could account for where he was before discovering each of the attacks, it didn’t mean that there was not doubt still lingering there. However, having somehow pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat had dulled some of that doubt.

Without even thinking about the possibility of bumping into his brother and his friends, Harry slipped back out of the alcove and started in the direction of the library. He needed to know more about the sword and why it had come to him in his hour of need. Perhaps, while he was there, he could see if he could begin to piece together just what the diary truly was.

**HP &GW**

As he entered the Great Hall for dinner, Harry’s mind was still awash with thoughts of all the information he had discovered from his time spent in the library. He was starving as a result of the amount of time he had spent with his head buried in a multitude of books, forgetting to attend lunch due to his desperation to discover as much as he could before he returned home for the summer.

Information on the Sword of Gryffindor had been easy to find, even if it was basic at best. Harry had been surprised to discover that, despite it not having been seen in centuries, the sword would always come to a true Gryffindor in times of need. Any doubts that had still lingered about where he had been sorted had immediately been banished by that knowledge. Though, he had been troubled to discover that the sword, due to it being Goblin-made, would only imbibe what made it stronger. Knowing that Basilisk venom, having double-checked it in another book, could only be cured through Phoenix tears, he knew that the sword would have imbibed it. This meant he needed to be careful with the sword in his possession. With it safely tucked away in his trunk, hidden by spells, Harry felt that was a problem that could wait to be dealt with until he arrived back at home.

Sadly, Harry had struggled to dig up anything on what the diary could be. He had not been tempted to try and search the Restricted Section, knowing he had no good reason to explain his presence there. However, he had stuck to researching ways of people being possessed. Much of what he had discovered only served to prove that there was something much Darker about the diary than anything he could find within the library. He was hopeful, though, that Sirius would have more luck, even if it did take a bit of time to find the exact answer.

Shaking the thoughts from his head to allow himself to concentrate on eating dinner, he could only hope that his godfather would take his concerns and requests to heart.

**HP &GW**

Reading through the letter once more that he had received that morning, Harry felt relieved to know that Sirius understood what his fears were regarding the diary and who was the Boy Who Lived. His godfather’s promise to also begin researching the magic behind the diary and to keep what Harry had revealed in his letter from his father and headmaster lifted the weight from his shoulders. He had been worried that Sirius would refuse his requests and, instead, follow his father’s lead by trying to keep Harry away from anything to do with Voldemort.

Harry, however, was surprised to learn something new about the aftermath of the night his mother was killed. He had thought that he and Matt had been told the everything from the night and why it was believed Matt was destined to be the one to vanquish the Dark Lord, but based on what Sirius had written, they had only been given the basic outline of what had happened. To learn, therefore, that neither his or Matt’s scars had received medical attention spoke volumes to Harry and only served to strengthen his suspicions about who truly was the Boy Who Lived. Considering Matt’s scar had faded slightly over the years, whereas Harry’s had remained the same for as long as he could remember, this piece of knowledge Sirius had provided was intriguing, but not enough to prove anything.

Harry was distracted from his thoughts as he spotted a head of long, red hair amongst the group of students who had just walked into the Gryffindor common room. He couldn’t help but watch her as she looked around as she decided what she wanted to do. It wasn’t hard to see that none of her brothers were making the effort to check on her, speak to her or interact with her in any way. He would have thought, given how concerned Ron had sounded the day before, that they would have been wanting to make sure she was okay and comfortable. Yet, not one of them approached her and it broke Harry’s heart to see the look on Ginny’s face as she took a seat in the corner of the room, where, he knew, people would leave her alone.

Feeling torn between staying where he was and approaching the youngest Weasley, Harry tried to decide what to do. Since he had started Hogwarts, he had always been careful to remain in the background and out of the spotlight. He could admit that he had not made any true friends, except for Neville Longbottom and that was tentative at best. Still, he knew he felt lonely because of the decision he had willingly chosen, and he expected that Ginny felt the same as he did, right now. The difference between them, however, was he had chosen to be in this position, out of fear for people using him to get close to his twin brother, whereas Ginny had been forced into it because of that damn diary. He knew, therefore, he couldn’t leave her by herself and that he needed to reach out to her, even if it meant risking Ginny realising he had been the one to save her.

Taking a deep breath as he stood, Harry suddenly had the feeling that this one decision was going to dramatically change his life. The idea, however, didn’t scare him as it had in the past. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he suspected it might be, even if he was the only one to know it, that they had shared the experience of what happened down in the Chamber of Secrets. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he walked across the common room to where Ginny was sitting.

“Um … hi, Ginny,” Harry nervously said.

Ginny looked up; shock evident across her face. 

“I was wondering if you fancied a game of Exploding Snap,” Harry said, pulling a fresh pack of cards of one of the pockets of his robes.

Ginny’s mouth dropped open.

With no answer forthcoming, Harry went to turn, apologising as he did so, “I am sorry. I’m sure you just want to be …”

“I would love to play,” Ginny quietly interrupted.

With a small smile on his face, Harry turned back round and took a seat opposite her. As he began to deal the cards out, he was surprised to hear two words he had not been expecting.

“Thank you,” Ginny said with a genuine sincerity.

Harry looked up, confused to what she was saying thank you for. He wondered if she knew he had been one to rescue him; something in her eyes suggested perhaps she did. However, he didn’t want to   
bring up the Chamber right now, preferring to keep the game fun and relaxed for her. 

Realising he had not responded, he quickly replied, “You’re welcome.”

Seeing the small smile appear across Ginny’s face at his response made Harry’s heart flutter for just a second and a feeling of happiness that he had helped put that smile there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this will have given you more of an understanding about Harry and the decisions he makes. There will be at least two more chapters that are flashbacks in this story.


	4. A Reunion of Family and Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny finally reunites with her family with plans to announce her engagement to Harry.

**July 2002…**

“Can you see it?” Ginny asked as she shoved her left hand in front of Draco’s face.

“Exactly what am I meant to be seeing?” Draco asked before shooting an exasperated look at his best friend.

Harry chuckled in amusement.

“Trust you not to spot the one thing that should be on my fiancée’s hand?”

Draco glared at his best friend as he pulled Ginny’s hand to him to try and figure out what his friends were talking about.

“Well, the Charm on my ring works,” Ginny declared as Draco’s eyes bulged in realisation at what he was missing. “Good thing, too, as we don’t need anyone spoiling our announcement.”

“Good,” Harry replied with a smile. “Now, can we make a move? I am really looking forward to a homecooked meal from your mum!”

The trio of friends exited the house and walked up the path until they were outside the wards before Apparating to the Burrow. Seconds after they appeared at their destination, another pop put them on guard; all three turning towards the sound with their wands held in a defensive position.

“It’s just me,” the fourth person said, hands held up to show the lack of intent to attack them, “Neville Longbottom. I left our travels after I received an owl informing me my gran had been taken ill.”

The trio immediately relaxed and put their wands away.

“It’s good to see you, Neville,” Harry said as he held out his hand. The group greeted one another, delighted to see one another for first time since Neville had returned to England to look after his grandmother.

“Where’s Luna?” Neville asked as he pulled away from a hug from Ginny.

Draco and Harry exchanged a look of amusement at the question, knowing Neville would be surprised to hear this piece of unexpected news.

“She met someone,” Ginny answered. “Rolf Scamander, the grandson of Newt Scamander. Not long after you left in fact. They were immediately taken with one another, so it wasn’t a surprise when she told us she was going to stay with Rolf rather than continue travelling with us.”

“Good for her,” Neville replied, genuinely delighted for their friend. “Rolf must be special for Luna to make that decision to stay. I take it she is coming back, though, for the next part of the plan?”

“She should be back within the next couple of days,” Harry told him, having received a letter from Luna that very morning, confirming she had made the necessary arrangements to travel home.

The group began to make their way up the path to the familiar sight of the Weasleys’ home, taking the chance to catch up quickly.

“It’s about time you asked her out, Nev,” Draco laughed as Neville informed them of the reason he had decided not to come back and continue travelling. “You and Hannah spent far too much time staring at each other in seventh year!”

“Coming from the guy who spent that same year staring at Astoria Greengrass!” Neville cheekily responded. “Hopefully, now you are back, you will finally make a move and tell her how you feel!”

Before anyone could reply, the door to the house swung open to reveal Molly Weasley.

“Mum!” Ginny cried out in delight, running straight up and into the arms of her mother.

“Ginny, oh, Ginny!” Molly said as she wrapped her arms tightly around her only daughter. “It’s been so long!”

The two women pulled apart with Molly holding Ginny at arm’s length as she looked over her daughter.

“You are glowing,” Molly noted as her eyes quickly sneaked a look at her daughter’s left hand. “It seems Harry has been taking good care of you.”

“It’s more like Ginny has been taking good care of us, Mrs Weasley,” Draco responded in amusement. 

“Well, that doesn’t surprise me,” Molly said as she moved over to hug Draco, Harry and Neville. “She might try to deny it, but Ginny is more like me than she would care to admit.”

The three wizards all chuckled in response as Ginny attempted to glare at her mum in anger for her comment.

“Now, we are eating in the garden as there are far too many of us to sit comfortably in the kitchen. Go on round and I will be with you all shortly.”

Harry and Draco exchanged a nervous look, neither looking forward to the moment they had been dreading – Ginny’s six older brothers discovering just who she had been travelling with for the past three years.

**HP &GW**

Molly was not joking when she had said they were far too many people for them to sit inside comfortably as the group of friends discovered as they turned the corner into the garden. Ginny was pleased to see her entire family, including her brothers’ wives and partners, were there, seated round the table, as she had not seen any of them since she had left the country three years previously. What she was most looking forward to, though, was meeting her three nieces, Victoire, Dominique and Molly. 

Just seeing Bill and Fleur, Charlie, Percy and Audrey, George and Angelina, Fred and Alicia, Ron and Hermione, her father and even Matt Potter were sat around a huge table in the garden of The Burrow warmed her heart.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING HERE?”

The question stopped all four of the friends in their track as the eyes took in the sight of Ron standing with his wand pointing at them. Ginny quickly glanced at the rest of her family and was pleased to see her father looking at Ron in disappointment.

“Ginny, what are you doing Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy?” Ron questioned, his wand never wavering. 

Ginny stumbled slightly in shock as she watched Fred, George and Percy also stand up with the wands drawn. Harry, however, was not surprised to see his own twin brother was sat at the table but was shocked to see he had not stood in protest either. He could only hope that the unexpected information his brother had received at the previous Order meeting had begun to sink in.

“Put your wands down!” Arthur demanded quietly. “NOW!”

The twins and Percy immediately lowered theirs, but Ron stubbornly refused to cooperate.

“Ron,” Matt quietly spoke, though everyone could hear him. “It’s fine. Just lower your wand.”

Ron allowed his gaze to switch to Matt, shocked he would even suggest such a thing. However, it was the sight of seeing his own father greet not just Ginny warmly, but Harry, Draco and Neville also. His arm dropped in shock as he watched his world turn upside down.

“What are you doing, Father?” Percy asked, confused to this turn of events.

“This,” Arthur said as he indicated to Harry, Draco and Neville, “is who Ginny has been travelling with for the past three years. You know Ginny is friends with Neville, but she is close friends with Harry and Draco. They are all very much welcome here in this house. They have been for years and will be in the years to come.”

Arthur had said this in a tone that made it clear that there would be no arguments about it and that was to be the end of the conversation. Even as Percy and the twins put their wands away and sat back down, it was obvious that Ron was not going to let it go.

“NO! I refuse to accept that. I refuse to believe that Ginny would be friends with someone like Malfoy. We all know that his father was the one to slip Voldemort’s diary into Ginny’s cauldron in her first year. And, even though he refuses to admit it, Draco was the one behind all those attacks and the attempt on Dumbledore’s life in our sixth year!”

For a moment, no one responded. Then, much to everyone’s confusion, Ginny, Harry, Draco, Neville and Arthur all burst out laughing.

“I take it Ron has come to the wrong conclusion?” Molly asked as she approached the table, levitating the last the food from the kitchen. “Ronald, you cannot punish someone for the sins of their father. And, you can certainly not make such accusations against Draco without evidence. Now, apologise!”

Ron could only glare in the direction of Draco, refusing to believe everything he knew about the Slytherin could possibly be wrong.

“It’s ok, Mrs Weasley,” Draco said, knowing an apology would never be forthcoming. “Ron… well, the majority of those here don’t have the information required to not believe I am guilty of what Ron has accused me of.”

“It doesn’t mean he shouldn’t apologise, dear.”

“He doesn’t need to,” Draco replied before looking directly at Ron. “However, I should remind you that I had no idea about that diary or that it had been given to Ginny. Nor was I involved in any of the attacks during our sixth year. I will admit that I was one who made it so the Death Eaters and Voldemort could enter Hogwarts that night. Not because I wanted to, but because I had been coerced in to doing so as retribution for the mistakes my own father made. And if you don’t believe me, perhaps this will.”

Draco held out left arm and rolled up the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing, revealing a clean and unblemished arm.

“I am NOT the person you believe me to be, Ron,” Draco continued. “I am NOT the person I once was. Harry and Ginny helped me, became my friends and made me a better person. Your own parents were there to support me in my seventh year and have done since we left Hogwarts and I could not be more grateful to them.”

No one spoke as they processed what they had just heard. Molly and Arthur looked on proudly, knowing it had taken time for Draco to move on and accept the friendship he had been offered by Harry and Ginny. 

“No more talk of this,” Molly stated, breaking the silence. “We are here to have a nice family dinner and welcome home Ginny and her friends.”

Molly ushered the small group of friends towards the table before moving to her own seat, between Percy’s wife, Audrey and Arthur. 

The last four seats available were between Arthur and Harry’s own brother. Draco automatically took the seat next to Arthur, someone he had come to greatly respect and admire. Neville took the seat next to Matt as Harry and Ginny took the two seats in between their two friends. 

**HP &GW**

Arthur looked around the table, pleased to see all his children, their partners and friends, and his grandchildren altogether for the first time since Ginny had left to go travelling around the world. It saddened him, however, that this could potentially be one of the last times that they were here altogether with yet another war looming over them. He knew it would take a miracle for everyone here to survive, but he also recognised that every one of them who wanted to would be present at the final battle. Yet, somehow he knew that Ginny and Harry would be in the centre of it all and if anyone deserved a long and happy future, it was those two.

Looking over at Victoire, Dominique and baby Molly, he could only hope that this new war was brief and over before too many people were killed. He didn’t like the idea of his grandchildren growing up in a world full of darkness. It was bad enough so many of those who were sat at the table had been touched by it and there had been nothing he could have done, even as their father, to protect them from it. For now, though, he could enjoy this time with them, swapping stories of the past three years with his only daughter and her friends.

**HP &GW**

By the time Molly, with help from Fleur and Audrey, had cleared the table and brought out pudding, the family and friends were considerably more relaxed. Amusing stories from the group’s travels had helped to eased much of the tension, along with some teasing about Neville’s new relationship and Draco’s reluctance to admit his own feelings about Astoria Greengrass. It wasn’t a surprise to Harry and   
Ginny when Percy suddenly asked the question they had been waiting for since they had first arrived.

“Why now?”

Everyone fell silent as they turned to look at Percy, who was looking directly at the group of friends.

“Why, after three years, have you decided to return home now?” 

Harry and Ginny exchanged a quick glance, knowing was the time to reveal part of the reason they had come home. While they were excited to be sharing the news of their engagement, they were still wary of how the family would react as no one at the table, bar Molly, Arthur, Neville and Draco, had been aware of their relationship before they left the country.

“We came home for two reasons, one of which you will be informed about in the next few days. The other reason,” Ginny finally replied as she felt Harry take her left hand and silently remove the charm from her ring, “was Harry and I have some news we wanted to share with you, something we wanted to do in person.”

Ginny paused for a moment, exchanging a smile with Harry, before turning back to her family.

“Harry asked me to marry him and I said yes!” 

The reaction was not the one they had been expecting. It seemed the whole family was shocked at the announcement. The couple could tell, however, that Ginny’s siblings seemed to be waiting for a reaction from their mum first as way to see how to react to the news.

“Oh, my little girl is getting married!” Molly shrieked in delight as she stood, pushing her chair back and rushing round to hug the couple. 

Her reaction sliced through the tension and everyone appeared to cheer in celebration at hearing that the youngest Weasley was now engaged.

As Molly, Fleur, Audrey, Angelina and Alicia admired the beautiful ring Harry had given Ginny, the rest of the Weasley men, bar Ron, congratulated Harry and welcomed him to the family. However, three people were reluctant to congratulate the couple on the impending nuptials. Ron was staring at everyone in shock, wondering how his baby sister was getting married to a man he hadn’t even been aware of her dating. Hermione was pleased for the couple, but hadn’t moved, fearful of the reactions from her boyfriend and her best friend. 

Matt couldn’t deny he was heartbroken at hearing the news as he had long had a crush on Ginny Weasley. While he hadn’t been expecting to hear this specific announcement, he had a feeling his brother and Ginny were a couple from the moment they had arrived. He had never seen his brother look so relaxed before, well, at least not since they started Hogwarts and their relationship began to fall apart. The only other person he had seen Harry like that with was Sirius. Therefore, despite feeling like his heart had been crushed, he couldn’t help but feel happy for the couple.

“How is that even possible?”

The question cut through the joy of the announcement harshly with a tense silence suddenly appearing as every head turned to look at the person who had spoken. It didn’t seem to shock anyone that the question had come from the person who had questioned the presence of Harry and Draco when Ginny had arrived at The Burrow with them.

“How can you possibly be engaged to him?” Ron asked, a defiant look on his face. “You may have been travelling with them for the past three years, but you cannot have been dating all that long for it to be serious enough to decide to get married. It will probably fall apart now you are home with more options available to you.”

“EXCUSE ME?”

Ron flinched as the volume of his sister’s voice and the flash of anger that had crossed her eyes.

“Exactly what do you mean by more options, Ron?” Ginny asked when it appeared Ron was not going to explain his thoughtless words.

Ron searched the faces of everyone present, looking for someone to back him up, but he found no one. He had not been surprised by the reactions of Harry, Draco and Neville, but he had at least expected someone from his own family, preferably one of his brothers, to agree with him on the subject. Neither of his own friends seemed to want to back him up and he suspected he was going to get a long lecture from either Hermione or his mum as a result of his bad choice of words.

“What I am trying to say,” he eventually responded, “is that you have only been around those three for the last couple of years, with no chance to date anyone who could possibly be a good match for you.   
Matt has been waiting to ask you out for years, even though you refused him for our last two years at Hogwarts.”

“That would be because I was already dating Harry!” Ginny admitted as she felt Harry take her hand in support. “We began dating at the beginning of my fifth and Harry’s sixth year.”

“That would explain why you constantly turn me down,” Matt quietly stated before Ron could say anything foolish in response.

Harry and Ginny exchanged a quick look before turning to look at the one person they feared they had hurt with this news.

“Matt, I am sorry if my rejection or the engagement has caused you hurt in any way,” Ginny gently said. “That was never my intention. It’s just…”

Ginny paused, unsure how to explain her relationship with Harry without hurting Matt even more than she already had.

“I won’t deny that Ginny and I were aware of your feelings for her,” Harry continued, recognising his fiancée’s struggle to explain. “We didn’t know, though, until after we started dating. Perhaps it would have been better had we been honest from the moment we started dating, but we made the decision, together, to keep our relationship quiet due to the war with Voldemort.”

“Why would you keep it quiet when you were being kept at a distance from everything that was going on?” Percy asked, unaware he was asking on behalf of everything one who had yet to be told the truth about the Boy Who Lived’s true identity.

“I can’t tell you that yet, Percy,” Harry answered honestly. “I promise that you, and everyone else here who has yet to be informed, will be told everything soon. I just need you to trust me and Ginny for the moment. Even so, Matt knows why and should therefore understand our reasons for why we chose to keep our relationship quiet, even after it appeared Voldemort disappeared again.”

Looking to his twin brother for confirmation, Harry was relieved when Matt gave him a small smile and nod of his head. He then looked to Percy and the others present who were unaware of the truth. It seemed they had all accepted his answer, some with more reluctance than others.

“I won’t deny that I feel like my heart has been crushed,” Matt admitted as he made direct eye contact with his brother, “but, I can’t deny that I have never seen you as happy or as relaxed as you have been today.”

Matt finally stood, walked over to Harry and Ginny and held out his hand.

“I am happy for the pair of you,” he said as Harry took his hand and shook it. “Congratulations!”

Any tension there had been finally dissipated as the family retook their seats to enjoy pudding. Conversations quickly sprung up like nothing awkward had just happened, with Molly already discussing possible ideas for the wedding with Ginny.

“Harry?”

Harry looked up to see his brother looking directly at him. It appeared Matt was struggling with his decision to say something to him as both Hermione and Ron whispered furiously to him to just ask.

“I know our relationship fell apart during school, that I pushed you away, shut you out and ignored you,” Matt finally said with a shaky voice, “but how did you managed to keep your relationship and your friendships secret from everyone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will be completed. It just might take time. New chapters will be published as and when I have time. So, please be patient.


	5. Secret Love and Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to 1996-1997: Harry and Ginny's relationship develops and they begin making plans to make a move against Voldemort

**June 1996…**

Glancing down at the map, Harry checked there was no one else near the room in which he was to meet Ginny. The corridor was clear, just as he expected it to be, as no one, not even the teachers, seemed to use any of the rooms down this particular corridor. 

Folding the map closed, he whispered, “Mischief Managed” before tucking the parchment safely inside his robes. 

Harry quietly and quickly walked along the corridor to the room he had been told to use. He was still unsure why Ginny had asked to meet him and why she had chosen a place they both knew no one would stumble across them. Admittedly, since that night in the common room when they had played Exploding Snap, they had formed a tentative friendship, similar to one he had formed with Neville Longbottom in his first year. While he and Neville had an unspoken understanding of sitting with one another in class and doing homework together, neither had sought to solidify the friendship. Essentially, it was the same with Ginny, except Harry knew it differed as they offered one another a quiet support and understanding from a slight distance. They had even continued to play Exploding Snap together once a week. However, he felt that was all about to change with whatever was about to happen.

Taking one last look around, Harry entered the classroom to find Ginny ready and waiting for him. He closed the door and cast a few Privacy Wards and Silencing Charms on the off chance anyone chose to use that corridor.

“Hi,” he quietly said as he put his wand away and turned to face the red head.

“Thank you for coming to meet me,” Ginny replied, a soft smile gracing her lips.

“I have to admit I am little confused as to why you wanted to speak to me and why somewhere no one goes?”

Ginny did not immediately respond to the question, choosing to look away. Her actions and silence only served to make Harry more nervous about what she was about to say. Whatever it was, something told him that she was worried that he would reject her after she had said her piece. He knew he had not made it easy for people to approach him, having chosen to keep himself to himself and keep people at a distance. However, that did not mean he wouldn’t be willing to listen if it was important and, from the way Ginny was currently acting, he could tell this definitely would be.

“I know you were the one who saved me from the Chamber,” Ginny suddenly responded, causing Harry to snap out of his thoughts and stare in shock at the youngest Weasley. “I have known the whole time you were my rescuer, but I never said anything to anyone, because I suspected you didn’t want anyone to know. You always keep yourself out of the spotlight and just quietly get on with your schoolwork.”

“Is that what you were saying thank you for the night we first played Exploding Snap?” Harry responded, asking a question he believed he had known the answer to for the past three years.

“I think we both know that you already know the answer to that.”

Harry was not remotely surprised by Ginny’s response. Even so, what she had already told him didn’t explain why she wanted to speak to him. Before he could ask, Ginny continued on speaking.

“Knowing you were the one to rescue me caused me to begin having doubts about Matt,” Ginny admitted. “Not that I had the evidence to prove it at the time, but something tells me he may not be the Boy Who Lived, like everyone else believes. I think, perhaps, that you are the Boy Who Lived and that the original report from that night was partially wrong.”

Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing from one of the two people he willingly interacted with on a daily basis. How had she managed to figure out the truth, with barely anything to go on, what had taken him and his godfather much longer and with much more information to piece together?

Looking back up at Ginny, he saw patience and understanding in her eyes, like she knew that he would need the time to process the fact someone else had figured out what only two other people currently knew.

“What clinched it for you, then? What evidence do you have that no one else does? Why approach me now?” he asked rapidly, not truly knowing what this meant for them or for him personally.

Ginny flashed the young wizard a smile in hopes of calming his nerves. She could tell panic was beginning to well up inside of him of what her knowing would therefore mean, but she could only hope he would let her in and let her help with what was to come.

“I am not even sure to where to begin with what you are asking,” she openly admitted. “I never once pried into your life, nor that of your brother’s, but I have watched from afar, unobserved by anyone, something that is easy to do when no one seems to want to pay attention to you. I think you understand what I mean.”

Harry gave her a nod in agreement but didn’t speak.

“I wouldn’t even say what I have is even evidence, more simple observations that I have pieced together into a bigger picture,” Ginny continued, recognising Harry was not going to respond to anything at this moment. “On their own, they are easily overlooked and ignored, but together… together they clearly show a difference to what our world believes is the truth. Something I think you have not gone out of your way to change and for good reason.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile at what he was hearing. She had figured it all out because she had actually made the effort to pay attention, which was more than he could say for most people, including his own father and brother.

“The reason I have approached you now is because, based on everything I have pieced together, I can’t deny any longer what I have believe for the past three years; that you are the Boy Who Lived and that you are the one destined to end Voldemort once and for all. I think I can help you; I want to help you,” Ginny told him with a defiant look on her face.

Harry didn’t respond as a million thoughts seem to rush through his head at once. She hadn’t even come close to answering what he had asked to begin with and yet, she had told him, with an absolute certainty, that she knew he was the Boy Who Lived. He could admit to himself that he was impressed and a little relieved that someone else knew inside the walls of the castle, but he was reluctant to say yes to letting her help. Not because he didn’t think she was capable, nor because he didn’t want anyone’s help, but because he had come to care for the red head he had saved, and he was scared what it would mean to let her in and let her help with what lay ahead for him.

“Don’t answer yet,” Ginny quietly said, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. “I can tell you are reluctant to say yes to me and I don’t blame you. You have been my friend, but from a distance all these years. To say yes would therefore mean doing something you haven’t done in the five years you have been attending Hogwarts.”

Harry sagged with relief at her understanding. Deep down, he knew he would open up and let her in. There was something about the youngest Weasley that made him want to say yes, but, for the moment, he was going to remain cautious.

“Like I said, I have watched both you and your brother over the last three years,” Ginny began, taking a seat as she did so. “You are both so different, despite being twins and both Gryffindors. Then again, the same could be said for Parvati and Padma and they are in different houses. However, I have watched the divide between you and your brother grow more and more as the years have gone by, especially this past year when your dad decided to take his training up a level.”

She paused for the moment, twiddling her thumbs.

“Since the start of my second year, I have been trying to understand what happened to me during my first year,” Ginny continued, her voice wobbling just slightly. “I read everything I could find in the school library and even what your godfather would let me touch in his library at Grimmauld Place. I needed to understand how a simple memory placed in a diary could take control of me, possess me, and very nearly kill me. Yet, everything, everything, I read said the same thing: that there was no possible way that a memory could do what it did, that it had to be something more to it.”

Ginny took a deep breath to compose herself before standing up to begin pacing back and forth between Harry and at the desk she had been sat at.

“There is a subtle difference between your brother and you, Harry, that seems to always be overlooked. Your scars, they don’t just look different, they behave differently too. For Matt, his scar is just that, but yours… yours causes you pain from time to time. And if I am correct, the reason you, and not Matt, saved me from the chamber is because you are able to speak Parseltongue. If I am correct, the reason Sirius was the one to inform those who needed to know about my dad and the Death Eaters infiltrating the Ministry is because you were the one to inform him.”

Ginny stopped pacing, having come to stand directly in front of Harry. 

“So, tell me, Harry, am I right when I say that you have a connection to Riddle? A connection that was forged the night he attacked your family and tried to cast the Killing Curse upon you and not Matt like   
the world believes. Perhaps similar to what I experience when I wrote in that awful diary?”

Harry’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock at Ginny’s words. The simplicity of the clues, hidden right there in plain sight, and she had taken them all and pieced them together.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” was all Harry could manage to say at that moment in time, shock and awe running through his entire body.

Ginny grinned in triumph, knowing the older wizard’s admission meant she now had a chance of being part of his life and helping end the terror of the person who had very nearly destroyed her.

“I want to be your friend, Harry,” Ginny started to conclude. “I don’t want to be kept at a distance anymore. I am willing to hide the true nature of our friendship if that is what you want, but you are no longer keeping me on the edge. I believe you know far more about what is going on, about how to finally defeat Voldemort and I want to help. I believe I can and deserve to help you to do that. I just need you to be honest with me about everything you know and in return, I will do whatever you ask of me.”

Ginny felt certain she had made a solid case, but now, she had to wait for Harry’s answer. Even with the nerves that were building up within her as she watched a mirage of emotions cross her fellow Gryffindor’s face, she knew he wouldn’t be able to say anything but yes to her. He just needed to be willing to let her in.

Harry pulled himself back together as every possible reason to say no to Ginny ran through his head. Yet, he knew she had made a well-reasoned argument for him to finally open up to someone other than his godfather. Sirius had pushed and encouraged him from the moment Harry had received his Hogwarts letter to make the effort to let people in, but he had never done so. How could he say no now when the opportunity was being handed to him with only one simple request – for him to be completely honest. 

“Ok,” Harry finally responded, knowing he could not say no to one person he had long been fascinated by, “but before I tell you anything and everything, you need to learn Occlumency.”

“Well, you better start talking, then, because I began learning it the summer after you rescued me from the Chamber!”

**HP &GW**

**February 1997…**

“He asked me out again,” Ginny gently said as she sat curled up in Harry’s lap in the corner of the unused classroom where they had solidified their friendship the previous June.

Their friendship had developed and deepened quickly over the course of the summer holidays as they had gotten to know one and another through the exchange of letters. By the time they boarded the Hogwarts Express in September, they had fallen for one another and began dating. Like their friendship, they had kept their relationship a secret. The only problem was that Harry’s twin brother had also fallen for the youngest Weasley and had been persistently asking her out since mid-September.

“How many times does that make it?” Harry replied with a slight chuckle.

“I lost count sometime around November, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we were approaching about a hundred times.”

“I think my dad made it worse,” Harry quietly admitted as he thought back to one of the few conversations he had been included in over the Christmas break. “He told me and Matt of the so-called Potter Curse over dinner on Christmas Day. Supposedly, Potters generally fall for redheads.”

“Ah, so, Matt believes that means he should be with me?”

“No, Dad managed to convince Matt that if it was meant to happen, it would. Sirius had said the same thing to my Dad, in regard to my mum, around the start of their sixth year here. Unfortunately, Matt seems to be as persistent as Dad is, so I doubt he is going to stop any time soon.”

“What can I do, then?” Ginny asked. “There are only so many times and so many ways I can tell him that I am not interested in him.”

“The only way I can think of is for us to come clean and admit we are in a relationship.”

Ginny pushed herself off her boyfriend’s lap, moving herself into a position when she was facing him directly.

“No! Absolutely not!”

“I know we agreed to keep this relationship secret, Gin, but I would do anything for you, especially if it lets me see that beautiful smile of yours. If being honest means it will help getting Matt to leave you alone, then I will do it!”

Ginny couldn’t help but smile at Harry’s determination to help. She gently drew Harry to her and softly kissed him before whispering, “No.”

“He will just keep bothering you,” Harry argued. “You know he is not going to stop asking until he gets what he wants.”

“To me, it is worth putting up with, if it means we get to keep our relationship secret,” Ginny explained. “I know I moan about his constant asking because we both know it is annoying to deal with, but I love that no one has tried to intrude on us or tried to stop us being together. I want to protect what we have together and that means keeping it quiet for now. Plus, if it allows us to continue working on the research we began in September without any questions or interference, then this is what we need to do.”

Harry sighed, knowing his girlfriend was referring to the problem that they had discovered during their exchange of letters over the summer. The common ground they shared through their personal experiences with Voldemort had led to many discussions, once Ginny had been fully informed of everything Harry knew, about Harry’s scar and the connection he shared with the Dark wizard. It was a startling realisation for both himself and Ginny to realise that the clue to understanding it had been there since Harry kept the destroyed diary to examine himself.

The discovery of that Harry was an accidental Horcrux had very nearly destroyed him. He had retreated into himself for several days and had not responded to the multitude of letters Ginny had sent him. He had understood immediately what that had meant for him – he had to die. He knew there was no other way around the situation as Sirius had made it clear that the object being used as Horcrux had to be destroyed beyond magical repair. For any living creature that would mean death, because no magic could bring back the dead. Ginny, however, had suggested that perhaps, though it was a remote possibility, the fact he was an accidental Horcrux could potentially mean they could find another way to remove it. 

“I don’t think there is an answer to that problem, Ginny,” Harry said with a sigh. “Every potential idea we have had has been ruled out. Every book we have read, every piece of information available on the subject of souls have all said the same thing. I have exhausted every avenue I can think of. I have to accept that…” 

“You have no other choice but to sacrifice your life,” Ginny said, finishing her boyfriend’s sentence for him as he sagged against her in despair of what his future now held for him.

Harry could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he desperately tried to hold them back. He didn’t want to die, not when he had finally found happiness, love and friends that neither his brother nor father had tried to take away from him. Yet, he knew and could accept that he would do what was right and sacrifice his life if it meant Ginny, his friends and his family could live in world where they were not living in fear.

“I love you, Harry,” Ginny whispered tearfully, knowing her boyfriend was going to do what needed to be done and nothing she said or did would stop him. She wrapped her arms firmly around the boy she had fallen in love with and held him as she heard him mutter quietly that he loved her too before he finally succumbed to the tears.

**HP &GW**

**May 1997…**

The door to the Room of Requirement slammed open, causing the current occupants to look up in alarm at the disturbance. 

There, bent over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, stood Neville Longbottom.

“Nev?” Ginny said as she stood from her seat and made her way over to the wizard. “What’s going on?”

Neville held up one finger, indicating he just needed a minute to pull himself together, leaving the others to wait patiently.

“I overheard a worrying conversation,” Neville finally said, just as Luna Lovegood walked over with a glass of water for him, which promptly downed in one go.

Harry had become friends with Neville and Luna at the start of the school year, following some encouragement from Ginny for him to begin reaching out and making friends. Neville had been an obvious choice, not just because they sat together in class and did homework together, but also because Harry knew about Neville’s parents being tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a group of Death Eaters. Harry had reasoned that Neville had every right to play his part in helping bring down the people who had destroyed his family.

Luna, on the other hand, was a childhood friend of Ginny’s and they had been introduced to one another a couple of days after the start of the new term. Harry had admittedly been taken aback by the way she saw the world and the strange creatures she spoke about, but he had quickly become fond of her and her unique perspective. It had come in useful after Luna had made the connection to the lost diadem of Ravenclaw as being a potential object that Voldemort would covet, despite not having all the information at that point in time, and had helped them find it within one of the many rooms that the Room of Requirement could become. 

It had taken some time, and a sheer amount of determination, but his newest two friends had learnt Occlumency just so Harry could inform them of the complete truth about himself, Matt, the prophecy and Voldemort’s Horcruxes, including the accidental one inside Harry.

“I accidentally stumbled upon a conversation between Draco and Professor Snape,” Neville continued as Luna and Ginny guided him over to a seat. Once settled, he looked directly at Harry, “You were right about Draco. I heard Professor Snape asking what his plan was, but he refused to answer. All I know is that he has been tasked with finding a way to let Tom and a group of his Death Eaters into the school undetected.”

Harry didn’t respond as he allowed his brain to process just why Voldemort would want to remain undetected. He shook away the thought, knowing that wasn’t the most important issue at the moment, and looked up to see his girlfriend and friends waiting for him to speak.

“Did you hear anything else that might help us?”

Neville shook his head.

“I doubt he wants Snape involved if he is refusing to tell him what he is planning, but at least we know what he has been up to inside this room,” Harry replied. “I take it they didn’t see you and that no one followed you here?”

Neville shook his head again. “How are we going to figure out how he plans to let them in, though? It’s not like we can get in here when Draco is in here as we don’t even know what sort of room he is using.”

Harry didn’t respond as an idea had to come to him. It had all the potential to go wrong and there was a good chance Ginny would try to stop him putting it into action. However, for Harry, it was too good an opportunity to ignore.

“Harry?” 

Ginny’s worried voice broke through his thoughts, forcing Harry to look up to see his friends looking at him in concern.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about what to do with this information,” he apologised. “Did you say something else?”

“I was just wondering if we should take this to Professor Dumbledore?” Neville asked, repeating the question Harry had not heard.

“There’s no point,” Harry replied, much to the confusion of his friends. “He is bound to know already.”

There was silence for a moment before the realisation hit them that Snape had probably kept the Headmaster updated on what was happening, considering he was a spy of the Order of the Phoenix.

“So, what do you propose we do with this information, Harry?” Ginny asked. She had a sneaking suspicion that Harry was going to use this information to his advantage, but she just wasn’t sure in what way.

Harry looked at Ginny, meeting her eyes, knowing she would probably hate him for what he was about to say. Yet, he knew this was the perfect opportunity to help buy them more time and deal with the Horcrux that resided in his scar.

“NO!” Ginny shouted, her eyes widening in realisation at what Harry was about to suggest. “There’s no way you are going to use this opportunity like this. Find a way to help us to gain more time and keep our world safe in the process, but not at the expense of your life!”

Neville and Luna gasped at Ginny’s words, fully aware that Harry would eventually need to die to destroy the accidental Horcrux Voldemort had made him into. Neither made the effort to step forward and reason with the couple, knowing this was something they needed to discuss without interference.

“It’s too soon,” Ginny whispered painfully. “I’m not ready to lose you yet. You promised me we had time.”

Harry walked over to where the love of his life was stood and wrapped her in his arms.

“I know what I promised you, Gin,” he whispered softly. “I know I said I would leave doing what needed to be done for as long as I could, but we have the opportunity to take control of what is happening. We are leaving too much to chance if we allow Matt to be put in a position that could end with him losing his life.”

Neville and Luna could only watch in silence as the couple remained wrapped in each other’s arms, drawing comfort and acceptance from one another. Like Ginny, neither wanted to see Harry give up his life so easily and so soon, but somehow his immediate response made sense.

“What’s their aim, though, by breaking into the school?” Neville asked, breaking the silence as the couple finally pulled apart from one another. “I can’t see them going this far to take over the school without already having control of the Ministry.”

“He cannot do that unless Professor Dumbledore is no longer able to interfere,” Luna answered as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“Exactly,” Harry responded immediately. “If he can also kill Matt while he is here, he will take that chance. It’s why we need to draw his attention away from both of them and take advantage of this opportunity for him to take me out instead.”

The group remained in silence as they thought Harry’s words over and retook their original seats. 

“Ok, say we do this,” Ginny said, having regained her composure, “what do we gain from allowing you to give up your life to remove the Horcrux from you?”

“Time,” was the reply Harry gave. “If you immediately kill Voldemort after he has killed me, it should reduce him to a wraith again. His Death Eaters might know the ritual to bring him back, but he still needs some form of a body before they can even attempt it and that will take time. Sirius has all the information as well and between the four of you, you can use that time to find and destroy the final   
three Horcruxes; two if we are right about Nagini and she is brought into the castle the night they come.”

Harry took in each of their reactions, pleased that they seem to agree, to some extent, with him. 

“Are you sure this is what you want to do, Harry?”

He wished he could say he was shocked by Ginny asking him that question, but he knew she needed to hear his answer to fully accept what he wanted to do.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

Harry held Ginny’s gaze as he waited for a sign that she was with him on this plan. It felt like hours before she gave the simple nod of acceptance. He looked to Neville and Luna, who also nodded with a grim determination.

“Ok, then, let’s come up with a basic plan and figure out what we can do to draw Draco on to our side.”

**HP &GW**

**June 1997…**

Harry and Ginny waited slightly out of sight of the doors to the hospital wing, checking the Marauders Map to make sure the coast was clear for them to go and speak to Draco Malfoy. While they were not happy to hear that Matt had very nearly killed the Slytherin through the use of a spell he had no understanding of, the situation made it easier for them to approach Draco to convince him to become part of their plan. Everyone appeared to be at dinner in the Great Hall, except for Madame Pomfrey, who was currently in her office.

“Ready?” Harry asked his girlfriend as he folded the map and put in back into his pocket.

Ginny gave a simple nod as she showed Harry the sweets in her hand if they needed an excuse as to why they were there. Knowing Madame Pomfrey would probably not believe that two Gryffindors were there to visit a Slytherin, Ginny had written to her brothers, Fred and George, with the request for one of their Skiving Snackboxes. They had sent her one without question and without making her pay for it. 

The couple reached the doors and quietly slipped through them. They waited for a moment to make sure they had not been heard before they walked over to the only bed with a patient. Neither Harry, nor Ginny were surprised by the wary look in Draco’s eyes as they reached the foot of his bed.

“What do you want?” Draco snapped quietly at the Gryffindors. “I would have thought you would be congratulating your brother on him nearly killing me.”

“Why would I do that?” Harry responded bluntly. “My brother is an idiot for duelling you and an even bigger idiot for using a spell without finding out what it does.”

Draco’s eyes widened in shock. He had known the twin brothers had a strained relationship, the whole school knew, but to criticise him in front of a Slytherin completely threw him.

“Look, I didn’t come up here to check up on you, though I am glad to see my brother didn’t succeed in killing you,” Harry honestly admitted. “Ginny and I need to speak to you about something important and I need you to hear me out before outright rejecting what I am about ask.”

Draco nodded, but the wary look returned as he wondered what a Potter could possibly want of him.

“We know you have been tasked with finding a way to secretly let Voldemort and his Death Eaters into the school. We don’t know why, though we have our suspicions, but we want to take advantage of the situation with our own plan.”

“Why do you think I would even help you?” the Slytherin replied coolly, even though Harry and Ginny both caught a glint of hope in his eyes. “What makes you think I would go against the task I have been set by the Dark Lord himself?”

“We both know you are starting you doubt him, his ideals and his actions. Ginny and I have both noticed you distancing yourself from your so-called friends. Your façade is slipping, Draco, even if not everyone has realised it, yet.”

“And they will,” Ginny continued. “You are protected here, while at school, where Voldemort cannot get to you. Let us help you get out of the situation and protect you from the potential backlash.”

Draco did not respond, but Harry could tell they nearly had him convinced.

“If it helps, Sirius has already arranged a safe house for you and your mum,” Harry said, knowing this would get the yes he was seeking. “Just say the word and Sirius will make sure your mum has what she needs to escape without anyone knowing before it is too late.”

Draco visibly sagged in relief.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Draco quietly admitted. “He made me do it in retaliation for the mistakes my father has made in the last couple of years. He never branded me with his mark. I do not know why he didn’t, but I am grateful he didn’t, or I would never be able to escape his service. My mother protected me for as long as she could and made sure to undo the teachings of my father after she became disillusioned by the Dark Lord’s methods and ideals.”

Harry and Ginny glanced at one another, confused as to why Draco felt the need to confess what he had to them.

“You don’t need to explain, Draco,” Ginny gently told the Slytherin. “We are children who have been thrusted into the forefront of a war that we shouldn’t even be a part of to begin with.”

Draco gave the youngest Weasley a small smile, grateful for her kind words and understanding.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need to keep people believing you are who they think you to be,” Harry told him. “I don’t want anyone to know we are planning anything. We need to know your exact plan so we can tweak our plan accordingly.”

Draco nodded as a thought crossed his mind.

“What about your brother?” he asked. “He knows I am up to something. He believes I am the one behind all these attacks when I am not.”

Harry and Ginny shared a smile with one another that confused Draco.

“Matt doesn’t know as much as he believes he does,” Harry explained. “Once this is over, you will probably know far more than him as well.”


	6. Truth and Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> July 2002 - Harry finally meets with Dumbledore ahead of a meeting with the Order of Phoenix to reveal the truth.

**July 2002…**

“It feels weird being back here again,” Harry said as he, Ginny, Draco and Sirius walked the path up to the school.

The group had come to Hogwarts to meet with Professor Dumbledore, ahead of a scheduled meeting with select members of the Order of Phoenix, to discuss their progress and next steps in defeating Voldemort for good.

“At least I can hold your hand openly this time round,” Ginny said as she gave Harry’s hand a squeeze. “I don’t even care if it doesn’t make much of difference with the school closed for the holidays.”

“I still don’t get why you never revealed your relationship for Harry’s final year,” Draco admitted. His friendship with the couple had remained a secret, but that was, in his opinion, for good reason. They did not want to risk any sort of retaliation if those who sided with the Dark Lord discovered Draco had switched sides. As for Harry and Ginny’s relationship, he would have thought they would have wanted to finally admit to the world they were dating, but they had decided against it.

“We may not have revealed it to the school, but we did make the effort to tell my parents,” Ginny explained. “We told them the truth over the school holidays about our relationship, about what had happened at school that year, made sure they would accept you as being a part of my life. The rest of the school didn’t need to know the truth and it would have been too much of a risk of someone discovering what we had been up to and causing our plans to be revealed or delayed.”

Draco could only nod in agreement, knowing that they had made it this far because there had been no one who had tried to interfere or stop them. Harry and Ginny had come too far in their plans to bring down Voldemort for it to be derailed because the wrong person had figured it all out. He knew that by the time he had been brought into the fold. Harry had no intention of informing his own family until the time was right and that time had finally come.

**HP &GW**

“Good afternoon,” Professor Dumbledore said as the group filed through the door into his office. “It’s good to see you again, Mr Potter, Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Professor,” Harry responded on everyone’s behalf as they all took a seat in front of Dumbledore’s desk. “It’s good to be back at Hogwarts, even if it is just briefly.”

“Seeing as we do not have too much time before we are due at Headquarters, I suggest we discuss what we are here for,” Dumbledore said. “Where are we in regard to the hunt for the Horcruxes?”

Harry quickly outlined what the group already knew, how four Horcruxes - the diary, the locket, the diadem and Harry himself - had been destroyed before their travels, leaving them with three left to find.

“What progress have you made?” Dumbledore asked, having not been informed of anything the trio had accomplished since they left school. The decision had been made not to remain in contact as it was rare for those who had left the school to keep contact with the headmaster or any teacher, unless their job made it a necessity. He had, instead, given Harry and Draco the information he had on Lord   
Voldemort to help them with any locations or Horcruxes they had yet to discover.

Dumbledore had begun a detailed search into Voldemort’s history following his return at the end of Harry’s fourth year. He had not been aware at the point that Sirius and Harry had discovered Voldemort’s secret to his immortality, but had hoped his past would help provide a clue as to what he had done to avoid death. 

“The information you provided us on Voldemort’s background was very helpful,” Harry explained. “We checked out the Gaunt Shack in Little Hangleton and discovered a Horcrux in the form of a ring, the one that his family had said was a family heirloom. That was retrieved and destroyed around a year ago.”

Dumbledore nodded, pleased another Horcrux had been dealt with and they were now one step closer to defeating Voldemort.

“It took us a while to get through the wards,” Draco continued on, “but we were delayed in destroying it because of a nasty and obscure curse that had been placed on the ring itself as an additional form of protection. We didn’t want to destroy the Horcrux without removing it as we didn’t know how it would react.”

“That was a sensible idea,” Dumbledore said, nodding in agreement with their actions. “You should never underestimate Voldemort and the magic he will use to protect his Horcruxes.”

The group had already agreed they would not reveal the true nature of the ring. Having researched Dumbledore’s background, having wanted to understand his own interactions with Voldemort through his time at Hogwarts and his rise to power as the Dark Lord, they had discovered he had, as a young man, searched for the Deathly Hallows. The temptation of the ring containing the Resurrection Stone would have been too great for the aging wizard, especially if he became aware of the fact that Harry had placed it in his vault for safe keeping.

“We did visit the cave that you had noted that Voldemort had been to as a boy,” Harry continued on, wanting to move the topic along before Dumbledore could ask more about the ring. “Turns out it was the same cave Kreacher had told me and Sirius about when we discovered the locket at Grimmauld Place.”

“A replacement locket had been left,” Draco confirmed before Dumbledore could even ask. “We have taken it to mean that Voldemort was unaware that anyone had discovered his Horcruxes or at least the significance of the cave. However, we did check this in the year Ginny remained at school, so we couldn’t tell you if any Death Eater has been asked to check, but we are doubtful they have been.”

“What about the final two Horcruxes?” the Headmaster enquired, knowing they needed to be destroyed sooner rather later if their plan to defeat Voldemort before he could cause any sort of death and destruction was to remain on course.

Draco looked to Harry, Ginny and Sirius for confirmation that it was okay to reveal the details surrounding the discovery of the cup. He didn’t particularly want to mention his mother, but he knew Dumbledore would ask where the information had come from and if it was reliable.

“We know where Hufflepuff’s Cup is,” Draco said once he had received nods from the three he had looked to. “Based on the diary, we knew that Voldemort had probably given another Horcrux to one of his followers, most likely in hopes of them placing it in their vault at Gringotts. I knew my Aunt Bellatrix’s vault was in the lower levels of the bank with some of the highest security, so she seemed the likely candidate to have been given the Horcrux.”

“That is very well reasoned,” Dumbledore responded. “I assume you have someone who was able to confirm this theory.”

Draco nodded, “My mother.”

The headmaster simply nodded in understanding.

“I visited her while we were in the country to deal with the ring and asked her to look into the contents of Bellatrix’s vault. She told me she couldn’t access the vault, which made sense, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t check to see if there was any paperwork at the Manor that could confirm what the vault contained. I am not sure how she managed to get hold of it, she never told me, but she contacted me just before Christmas to confirm that she had found an item within the paperwork that didn’t make sense for Bellatrix to have.”

“So with the cup still in Bellatrix’s vault, how do you plan to procure it?” Dumbledore asked, hoping they were not planning something reckless to get their hands on the cup.

“That’s where I come in,” Sirius said, speaking for the first time since arriving at the Headmaster’s office. “We are hoping as Head of the Black Family that I will be granted access to the vault, but obviously that is no guarantee as Bellatrix’s vault would come under the control of the Lestrange family. However, there are few people who could potentially help us get into the vault, all with a fair reason to make the request of the Goblins.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“It is best you don’t know the answer to that, Headmaster,” Ginny said as she shot a glare at the three wizards, having told them the last resort plan was completely reckless.

“Ah, yes, that would perhaps be best,” he responded, knowing immediately that the final plan was what he had originally thought they would do. “Let’s move onto the final Horcrux. I am assuming it must be Voldemort’s pet snake, Nagini, or did you confirm otherwise?”

“She definitely is a Horcrux,” Ginny answered with a slight shudder as she remembered the night they saw the snake at the graveyard. “Voldemort seems to have a very unnatural control over her, which means he has kept her well protected. We couldn’t get close enough to her when we went after Harry to rescue him from the graveyard, but it proved impossible.”

“The best option, therefore,” Harry continued in Ginny’s place, “would be to leave destroying her until the final battle with Voldemort. If he has yet to discover his Horcruxes have been destroyed, then she will be vulnerable to attack. If he has, then she will be protected, but we will work that into the plan as a precaution.”

“Your mention of the graveyard leads me to my next question, Harry,” Dumbledore responded. “How is that you came to be captured when you have been able to keep yourself so well hidden on your travels?”

Harry didn’t immediately reply. He wasn’t stupid not to recognise the very suggestion in the headmaster’s words that he had tried to keep an eye on Harry and his friends. He didn’t anger him that Sirius had done it as that was his overprotective side coming through, but for the headmaster to do so when they had agreed to keep their distance, angered Harry.

“We took every precaution we could to make sure we were not recognised while we were travelling,” Harry explained calmly, despite his anger at the aging wizard. He wasn’t going to admit to the fact that they had planned for this to happen, just like they hadn’t told Sirius. “We used different names and disguises, making sure to change them when in a new city or country. The only explanation for how they managed to capture me was either we let our disguises slip at some point or someone was able to see through them. We were caught completely off-guard by it, even though we had been on alert for something like this.”

Dumbledore contemplated the response, which made Harry worry that he could sense he had not told the complete truth. He knew Dumbledore had not tried to read his mind as he would have sensed it if he had, having worked hard in his final year at Hogwarts to finally learn Occlumency.

“I cannot fault you anything you have done,” the headmaster finally responded. “We should be grateful that Voldemort did not return until now as it has kept to the timeline we were working with. You being used for his rebirth has meant that we were aware of his return and that helps us tremendously.”

Harry felt himself relax at the headmaster’s words as he took a glance at his girlfriend and his best friend and saw the relief on their faces that they had not been questioned further on the matter of Harry’s capture.

“I do have a couple of requests I must ask of you, Harry,” Dumbledore said, drawing Harry’s attention back to him. “I must ask you speak to Professor Snape about the ritual used and what happened at the graveyard as it appears something happened that has caused problems for Voldemort.”

Harry simply nodded, knowing exactly what had happened, considering he had been the one to make sure the ritual had been altered when he chose to clearly state that his blood could be taken. He hadn’t known what would happen when he chose to do that, but he had hoped it would weaken the so-called Dark Lord considerably. He couldn’t help felt pleased that his plan had worked.

“I must also ask that you find a way to make peace with your father and brother before we proceed with the final part of the plan,” Dumbledore continued, though he suspected Harry had already been given a lecture from his girlfriend, best friend and godfather about the need to do this.

Harry sighed, knowing that this would be a constant request from multiple people until he settled his differences with his family. He knew it had to be done, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“He has promised us that he will do that,” his girlfriend replied on his behalf. “He understands it is important to make sure his father and brother understand everything that has happened and needs to happen, while also allowing their chance to make a difference.”

“That is all I can ask for,” the Headmaster responded, pleased with the mature approach that was being taken. “I am not as worried about the potential of your brother going than I am when it comes to your father.”

“That was and is our concern as well, Sir,” Harry admitted. “I am worried my father won’t accept the role I have to play and will try to push me to the side so he can do the job himself.”

“I am not going to let him do that, Harry,” his godfather said, determined to make sure James finally saw his other son for whom he truly was. “I am sure I am going to have to have my own chat with him after the way I lashed out at him when he finally told the truth. If he is still struggling with it all after the meeting tonight, I promise I will make him understand.”

Harry flashed a small smile of gratitude towards his godfather, grateful for the role the man had played in his life. 

“I have spoken to Matt since we have been back,” Harry confessed to his former headmaster. “We didn’t discuss anything of importance, but he seemed to be accepting of the truth. The point is we are on speaking terms and I don’t think Matt will cause any problems for us. I honestly do want him there when we finally take down Voldemort as he deserves the chance to help.”

“It would appear both you and Matt have grown and matured into exceptional young men, despite the circumstances that have surrounded your childhoods,” Dumbledore replied, a hint of pride in his voice, before he glanced at the clock on his desk. “Ah, it seems it would be time for us to head to Grimmauld Place for the meeting. The Floo is available and secure for you to use to travel directly there.”

**HP &GW**

“Professor Snape, I was asked to speak to you by Professor Dumbledore,” Harry said, having approached the Potions Master once the group exited the Floo into Grimmauld Place.

“Of course,” the professor replied. “I am assuming you know why the Dark Lord has had problems since his return?”

“I do, but I would rather we speak privately as I have other things I would like to speak to you about.”

With a nod, Snape led the younger wizard to a corner in the kitchen and threw up some necessary privacy charms to protect from those who would wish to eavesdrop on the conversation.

The pair spoke for several minutes with Ginny and Draco looking quite amused at the variety of expressions that seemed to cross Snape’s face in that time. Most of the room seemed to be watching, wondering what they could be talking about beyond what the need for Harry to explain what he had done during Voldemort’s Rebirth. Even as the Potions Master’s eyes widened in shock; no one, bar Ginny and Draco, could imagine what could cause such a reaction in the normally surly wizard. Before anyone could even ask about it, Snape nodded to Harry, removed the privacy charms, and walked out of the room with only an additional nod to the headmaster.

“Harry?”

Harry turned his attention to the headmaster, having watched Snape leave the room.

“Oh,” Harry said as he realised everyone was confused by Snape’s departure. “I gave him the information he required as you requested me to. I spoke to him about some other things, but then told him I felt that, despite him being an extremely gifted Occlumens, it would be best he was not present for this specific meeting as a precaution.”

“Understandable,” Dumbledore said in agreement before he turned his attention to the rest of the room. He was pleased all those who had been present at the previous meeting – James, Matt, Hermione, Ron, Molly, Arthur, Remus, Tonks, Minerva, Moody and Kingsley – were present for tonight’s important meeting. He could only hope that everyone remained patient and held their tempers while the complete story was told. “I must ask that anyone who has questions now, or throughout this meeting, to please wait until the end.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, including Harry, Ginny, Draco and Sirius. However, he could see James wanted to ignore the request, but was currently holding his tongue for which Dumbledore was grateful.

“The point of tonight’s meeting is for you to be informed of the complete truth of what has happened over the last twenty years to allow Voldemort to be defeated and to return twice. Harry will be explaining everything to us, with some help from Ginevra, Draco and Sirius. I believe Mr Longbottom is currently meeting with the DA and giving them a brief overview of the events.”

Harry gave a simple nod to confirm. He had spoken to Neville, following the meal at The Burrow, asking him to inform the DA, the group his own brother had helped formed in their fifth year, of the events and to ask for their support. They had decided to keep it brief to avoid any potential leaks. The fewer people who knew, the smaller the chance Voldemort had of finding out they had discovered and nearly destroyed all his Horcruxes until it was too late.

“Before I hand over to Harry,” Dumbledore continued, “I would like to apologise to both him and Matt for the mistakes I have made when it has come to them. I overlooked so many things all because I chose to believe a newspaper story over the evidence in front of me. We, as a group, now need to come together to help Harry in his role to defeat Voldemort, rather than allow ourselves to fight over who is in the wrong or deny the mistakes that we should have fixed many years ago.”

Dumbledore looked to Harry and, with a simple nod of the head, encouraged Harry to stand and take over the meeting as planned.

Harry froze as his own feelings of guilt began to creep to the surface. He had held so much back from them all and, as a result, had allowed his own brother to find himself in situations he had not needed to be in. Looking around the room, he could see the curious expressions on those who did not know the full story, the encouragement from his godfather and his best friend and the look of absolute love from his fiancée. However, it was his own brother’s expression of trust, and a desperate need to understand, that surprised him the most and the one that gave him the encouragement to stand up and begin to speak.

“I… I’m sorry,” Harry began. “I have made many mistakes as well. I should have tried harder to tell you all the truth from the moment I realised it. I should have trusted you when the information I had began to grow. I don’t know if it would have helped us end the war sooner or if we would have still ended up here. We cannot change the past, but we can work towards fixing our present and creating a peaceful future, so I ask that you listen to my story with an open mind and a forgiving heart.”

Harry felt himself relax as he saw the nods of agreements from most of those present, including his twin brother. However, his own father seemed to remain stoic in his expression, like he was waiting to see what his son had to say before he would agree to anything.

With a deep breath, Harry began to tell his story, “I think I will start at the beginning on the night everything changed for the Potter Family…”


	7. Shared Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 1997 - Harry and Ginny put their plan into action before Harry reveals a number of messages from an unexpected source.

**June 1997…**

“There’s the signal,” Harry whispered under his breath to Neville as he looked up and winked at Ginny.

Their conversation with Draco had revealed that the Slytherin had only been tasked with finding a secure and discrete route into the castle for Voldemort and a group of his Death Eaters. He also revealed that he was to lead the Dark Lord to Professor Dumbledore’s office while the others caused a distraction elsewhere to keep any potential help away. The decision had been taken that Draco would give them the signal on the night it was to happen based on the direction he headed in on leaving the Great Hall – if he went in the opposite direction to his normal route then that was the night he was to complete his task. 

Ginny winked back, signalling she had noticed the direction in which Draco had walked, before she stood from the table to leave the Great Hall. Harry and Neville waited a couple of minutes before following Ginny’s actions, knowing Luna would take that as her signal to leave and meet them on the third floor by the statue of the One-Eyed Witch.

Within ten minutes the four friends had arrived at their destination. Before they could quickly go over their plan one more time, the statue moved position to reveal Harry’s godfather.

“How long do we have before he opens the passage?” Sirius asked as he stepped out the secret passage from behind the statue.

“Probably about thirty minutes,” Harry answered as he checked his watched, knowing they had arranged with Draco to have additional time to allow them all to get in position. “You all know what to do, but remember not to panic if not everything goes our way. As long as I can confront Voldemort myself then it won’t matter what happens elsewhere.”

Harry took Ginny’s hand in his, knowing this was probably one of the last chances he had to hold it, and went to leave for where they needed to be.

“Harry?”

Harry paused and spoke without turning to look at his godfather and friends, “Don’t say anything, Uncle Sirius. It’s hard enough as it is, knowing that I don’t really have a choice in what I am about to do. If you say what I know you want to say, I won’t have the courage to go through with it.”

When no response was forthcoming from Sirius, Harry began walking again, pulling Ginny gently along with him. He didn’t want to die tonight, but if everything went according to plan, then he knew his girlfriend, friends and godfather would have more time to find the rest of Horcruxes and destroy them. It was only the comforting the grip of Ginny’s hand that allowed him to keep walking towards his destiny.

**HP &GW**

As the couple approached the entrance to the headmaster’s office, they let go of one another’s hand. Ginny slipped over to their agreed hiding spot as Harry went up to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance and carefully placed a hand on it.

“I do not wish to enter,” Harry quietly said, “but I wish to know if Professor Dumbledore is in his office, please.”

In preparation for their plan, the group had scoured the library to find some lesser known charms and wards that would allow them to contain Harry’s confrontation with Voldemort. They had managed, in the process, to stumble upon a book that gave more information on the magic of Hogwarts than _Hogwarts: A History_ could ever provide. They were amazed to have found it, with Luna stating that Hogwarts must have wanted them to discover it. It was in this book they had discovered that the gargoyle could keep their presence secret and reveal whether the current head of the school was present. While they could have used the map, they had chosen to leave it with Neville, Luna and Sirius, who they felt would need it more.

The gargoyle did not speak, but somehow it was able to communicate to Harry that Professor Dumbledore was currently in his office and unaware of Harry and Ginny’s presence in the corridor. Harry removed his hand from the gargoyle, whispering thank you as he did so, before he quickly cast one of the charms they discovered that would keep the headmaster safely behind a protective ward and stop him from moving past the gargoyle and potentially interfering. The charm itself was specifically designed to be used on the entrance to the office and was one that could not be overridden by the head of the school, unless the gargoyle deemed it necessary.

Harry joined Ginny, knowing now that they could only wait and hope that everything went to plan. It didn’t help that they didn’t know what was going on, nor that everything that happened now was completely out of their control.

“Are you certain you want to go through with this, tonight?” Ginny asked, breaking the silence. She didn’t know why she was asking as she knew she would not be able to talk Harry out of this plan. He wanted the Horcrux that resided in him dealt with sooner rather than later.

Harry didn’t answer. He knew he was beginning to second guess his decision, because he didn’t want to leave Ginny. However, at the same time, he was doing this for Ginny, to give her the chance to live in a peaceful world. So, instead of speaking, he kissed her, pouring everything he felt for her into the kiss.

“I love you,” he whispered as he pulled away.

Before Ginny could answer, a bright light rushed past them and into the headmaster’s office. They knew that it was a Patronus sent by a member of the Order of Phoenix to inform Professor Dumbledore of Death Eaters being in the castle.

Harry quickly cast another charm they had discovered that would keep all the students safe within the room they occupied at the time of the charm being cast. While they wished for the time to have been preferably after curfew, it seemed Voldemort wanted it to be early enough for him to claim Hogwarts as his. They had all agreed that it needed to be done to avoid any student being killed in the crossfire, not that they could guarantee everyone would be anywhere but the corridors.

The couple then moved into position ready to confront the worst Dark Wizard to walk the earth since Gellert Grindelwald.

**HP &GW**

Draco could barely control his nerves as he led the Dark Lord down the final corridor towards the headmaster’s office. He knew Voldemort would demand he kill Professor Dumbledore, something Harry had warned him might happen. They had all hoped that Draco would be allowed to follow the Death Eaters, which would have allowed him to run for safety. That hadn’t happened, though, as Voldemort had told Draco to lead him to where Dumbledore would be.

“We are here, my Lord,” Draco calmly stated as they arrived at the entrance to the headmaster’s office. 

“It seems our esteemed headmaster has yet to be notified of our presence at the school,” Voldemort responded curiously. “Draco, use the gargoyle to request an immediate meeting with Dumbledore.”

Draco stepped forward towards the gargoyle, knowing this was the moment to make his move and get out of harm’s way. From the corner of his eye, he saw the wall behind the gargoyle open up, meaning the headmaster was descending the steps. Therefore, he knew he had to move now. 

Within a few seconds, Dumbledore had arrived at the bottom of the steps, unable to move past the unknown ward; Draco had moved into a safe spot behind a ward Ginny had quickly erected, and Harry had stepped out to confront Voldemort.

“What is this nonsense?” the Dark Lord demanded, confused as to what was going on.

“Harry, whatever it is you are planning to do, it is not for you to do,” Dumbledore called from behind the dark-haired wizard. 

Harry didn’t immediately respond to either wizard as he, instead, watched as Sirius, Neville and Luna came up the corridor behind where Voldemort stood and immediately cast the ward needed to protect themselves. Confident that the people he cared for and loved, along with the headmaster, were safe from any potential magical backlash, he finally acknowledged the two powerful wizards.

“It’s time for me to fulfil my part of the prophecy,” Harry explained. 

Neither of the two wizards responded. Dumbledore could only look on in confusion as Voldemort smirked at Harry’s proclamation as he studied the scene around him.

“I always knew it was you, Harry, that caused my downfall that night in Godric’s Hollow,” the Dark Lord finally replied. “Yet, it seems that our world is unaware of who is the true Boy Who Lived. I am surprised your brother didn’t realise it was never him that I wished to use for my rebirth, even if you are both protected by your mother’s noble sacrifice. Not that it matters, I will kill you and then I will kill your brother. Then, the wizarding world will realise that I am the greatest wizard who ever lived and will bow to my command once they realise their saviour was nothing but a weak wizard.”

Harry refused to respond. As much as he wanted to hex and curse Voldemort for threatening his family, he couldn’t as he had given Ginny his wand to help him resist the temptation to use it. 

“It seems you are intent on making this easier for me,” Voldemort exclaimed in delight. “Well, then, if that is the way you wish it to be, so be it. AVADA KEDAVRA!”

As the green light of the spell rushed towards him, Harry closed his eyes and thought of Ginny, of holding her in his arms, of her lips on his…

His world went black.

**HP &GW**

Ginny could only watch in horror as the Killing Curse flew towards the love of her life and hit him square in the chest. However, confusion quickly set in as Voldemort collapsed at the same time Harry dropped to the floor. 

“What the…?” Draco muttered in shock. 

No one moved, not even Professor Dumbledore. It didn’t seem to matter that he was now free to move forward due to the ward collapsing as Harry was killed. No one had known this would happen – they hadn’t planned for it. It didn’t make sense to any of them and none of them seemed know what to do. 

“We need to know if Voldemort is dead,” Ginny stated clearly, making sure everyone in the corridor had heard her.

“Let me do it, Ginny,” Sirius responded. “Harry would never forgive me if I let you check, and it resulted in something happening to you.”

However, before Sirius could even begin to bring the ward down, both bodies on the floor before them began to move. Those gathered could only hold their breath as they watched both Voldemort and Harry sit up. It seemed now it would be a race as to which one of them recovered first to make a move to destroy the other. 

Youth won out as Harry quickly jumped to his feet and yelled, “TAKE COVER!” as he held his hand out and summoned the Sword of Gryffindor.

Even though the wards they had set were designed to take the full brunt of any magical backlash, no one wanted to take any chances and immediately dropped to floor and covered their heads. Dumbledore, however, had no ward protecting him as it had dropped the moment Harry had been hit with the Killing Curse, so he ducked behind the gargoyle and then quickly threw up the strongest shield he knew. 

Harry didn’t waste a second once the sword appeared in his hand, immediately burying it into Voldemort’s chest. He was immediately thrown back by the powerful force of Voldemort’s body being ripped apart once again. Luckily, he was saved from any potential serious injury as Dumbledore quickly cast a spell to cushion the blow against the gargoyle. He didn’t move from where he landed as he watched as a wraith flew around the corridor, screaming in anger, before it disappeared from sight.

Then, there was silence.

Harry dragged himself to his feet and moved over to where Voldemort had been stood when he drove the sword through him. All that was left was a pile of black ash, Voldemort’s wand, and the Sword of Gryffindor. He knew it wasn’t over, but somehow he felt more at ease with the task ahead of them.

“Harry?” a voice said from behind him, causing him to turn to see confusion and shock on the faces of everyone present. 

“I don’t understand. I thought you needed to die for the Horcrux to be destroyed. How are you still alive?” Ginny asked on behalf of the group as she slowly approached the person she thought she had lost forever.

“I will explain. I promise,” Harry replied. “However, we have other things we need to do, including rounding up the Death Eaters who are currently in the school. Is everyone ok, though? No one has any new cuts or scars that we need to be concerned about?”

Before anyone could answer, Ginny grabbed Harry’s face with both her hands and dragged his lips to hers and kissed him deeply, happy her boyfriend had somehow survived being hit with the Killing Curse once again.

“You will explain everything,” she said as she pulled away from her boyfriend. “You will explain in detail what happened.”

Harry chuckled at his girlfriend’s demands, not that he planned to do anything differently.

Turning to Dumbledore, Harry quickly took on a serious tone as he spoke, “You’ve been wrong about Matt and me all these years and I promise I will explain everything to you, because I am going to need your help. However, right now, I need you to help Sirius to round up all the Death Eaters still within the castle and call the Aurors to take them away. He will bring to you the Room of Requirement once you are done.”

“For everything I have done, I am truly sorry, Harry,” the headmaster responded before turning and joining Harry’s godfather as they made their way towards where the fighting had been.

Harry then turned to Neville and Luna, “You know what to do. Release the Charm on Snape’s office first before you check for any students who were still out and about in the corridors when the Death Eaters arrived. If there are any hurt, take them to the hospital wing.”

The pair nodded before heading off to complete their tasks.

“I now need your help, Draco,” Harry said as he turned to speak the Slytherin. “I need you to take us to the cabinet. We will be destroying so it cannot be used again. Then, I want you to join us as I feel you deserve a full explanation for why we took advantage of your plan and what ended up happening here, tonight.”

“Thank you,” the Slytherin replied, unable to say anything more for the moment.

“The safe house is ready for you and your mother to move into,” Harry responded. “She will be moved there within the next twelve hours. You will go straight there from the train with a Portkey we will have set up for you.” 

The look of relief on Draco’s face was enough for Harry to know that the other wizard was extremely grateful for the help and safety offered to him.

“Let me just remove the rest of the wards and charms and then we go and get rid of that cabinet.”

Once done, Harry took Ginny’s hand in his, knowing they were unlikely to bump into anyone for the moment, and started down the corridor towards the Room of Requirement.

**HP &GW**

An hour or so later, everyone had arrived at the Room of Requirement, having completed their tasks. The room had been transformed from the room of hidden things to a cosy-looking room that look similar to the Gryffindor common room. Everyone was sat in an armchair or on a sofa, all surrounding a table that had a selection of drinks and treats to eat that Harry had requested from one of the Hogwarts house-elves.

“Before I begin,” Harry said after taking a sip of Butterbeer, “how did everyone’s tasks go?”

“The charm was easily released on Professor Snape’s door,” Neville answered. “No idea if he left his office as we made sure to move along the moment we removed it. Even so, we used the map to see if there were any students in the corridors and there were a few, but our checks on them revealed none of them had been injured and that they had been trapped in the room they had occupied at the time of you placing the charm upon Hogwarts, just as you had hoped.”

Harry nodded, relieved none of the students had been caught up in any of the fighting, though he suspected his brother had probably joined the fight. 

“Your brother, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger did join up with the Order,” Dumbledore confirmed without Harry needing to ask. “Matt was injured, but has already healed by Madam Pomfrey. I am afraid to tell you that Bill Weasley was injured, having been bitten by Fenrir Greyback, though Greyback was not transformed as it is not a Full Moon tonight.”

“How bad is it?” Ginny asked quietly as she worked hard to not break down in tears.

“Madam Pomfrey says he will always carry the scars from where he was attacked,” the headmaster gently explained. “Scars like that can never be healed. However, she says it is unlikely he is now a werewolf. He will probably just have a liking a raw meat. Remus Lupin is with him now and is speaking with your family about any potential effects.”

Ginny nodded, unable to say anything at that moment. She let her boyfriend pull her into his arms and comfort her as the conversation continued around her.

“All of the Death Eaters that were still in the castle have been captured and taken back to the Ministry for questioning,” Sirius explained once Harry nodded for them to continue. “The current belief, which we encouraged, is that they were rogue Death Eaters who were out to cause trouble and potentially claim Hogwarts. As many of them were those who had claimed to have been under the Imperious Curse after the last war, their true alliance has now been revealed and has been added to list of crimes they will be charged with.”

“Good,” Harry responded, glad that they would no longer get away with the multitude of crimes that they had committed over the years. 

“Harry?”

The young wizard looked over to the headmaster, who he could see was waiting as patiently as he could to ask the one question he knew everyone else wanted an answer to.

“Could you explain to us what happened here tonight?”

Harry sighed, knowing this would take some time and would need a detailed explanation for everyone to understand the events that led to Voldemort being returned to a Wraith once again. He untangled himself from Ginny, who had finally regained her composure, and prepared himself for what needed to be told.

“I know everyone here is aware of various bits of information about me, my brother and the events that led to tonight,” Harry started. “However, I need to start at the beginning for everyone to be able to understand. Sirius, Ginny, I will need your help in telling this.”

The pair nodded in agreement.

Harry started to talk, beginning with the night his mum was killed and Voldemort was defeated. He felt the need to defend his dad, making clear that James did love him and had never neglected him as child, but that he tended to get wrapped up in the need to protect and train Matt, something that had gotten worse once they had begun Hogwarts. 

“His need to keep me from anything to do with Voldemort meant he forgot about me,” Harry explained. “It made it harder for me to tell him what I came to learn about Voldemort at the end of my second year. No matter how hard I or Sirius tried, he continually shut us down. In the end, I gave up trying and chose to keep the information between Sirius and me so we could keep it hidden from those who could take advantage of what we knew for the wrong reasons.”

Harry continued on with his story, telling the group about starting Hogwarts and how he and his brother had begun to grow apart as Matt became friends with Ron and Hermione.

“It was hard to make friends when I was just the brother of the Boy Who Lived,” Harry told the group. “Everyone wanted to be Matt’s friend, so I just let myself blend into the background. I kept both Neville and Ginny at a distance for years, though I know now that was the wrong thing for me to do.”

No one tried to speak or interrupt as all of those present could tell he needed to get through this without stumbling. He continued on, telling them about the events of the Chamber, the discovery of the diary, the visions he had of Voldemort, the prophecy and the Horcruxes, with some help from Ginny and Sirius when needs be. He finally brought the group up to speed about tonight’s events and the fact he was the Horcrux Voldemort never knew he had accidentally made.

“I didn’t know I would survive,” Harry admitted. “We had planned it out that someone would reduce him to a wraith once more so that Ginny, Sirius, Neville and Luna could have more time to find and destroy the last of the Horcruxes.”

Harry looked around, taking in everyone’s expressions. Sirius just grinned at him, his pride in his godson shining brightly in his eyes. Neville and Luna, who had been aware of most of what he had told the group, smiled at him in support. Draco’s face, however, was one of utter shock with a little bit of awe, whereas Dumbledore seemed to be quietly contemplating everything he had just been told.

“Harry?” Ginny’s voice softly floated through the silence of the room. “How did you manage to survive the Killing Curse again?”

Everyone looked at him, watching him curiously as they waited for an answer.

“Your mother’s protection ran through both you and Matt,” Dumbledore answered before Harry could say a word. “When he took Matt’s blood to help him regain his body, he took in the protection your mother had given both you and Matt when she sacrificed her life. With that running through the veins of yourself, Matt and Voldemort, it kept you tethered to life.”

Harry nodded, unsurprised that the headmaster had managed to piece that puzzle together.

“It would seem that because I willingly sacrificed myself to protect those that I love, the curse only destroyed the Horcrux, allowing me the choice of whether I returned to the land of the living or not. For me, it was an easy decision to make.”

Ginny wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and snuggled into him, knowing she didn’t have the words to explain how grateful she was that he had chosen to come back. She knew Harry understood as she felt a soft kiss on her head from him.

“I am not quite sure how to explain this next part,” Harry continued, nervous about how about everyone would react to this next part. “Before I woke up in the corridor, I was somewhere else, and I was met by my mum.”

“You saw Lily?”

Harry looked over at his godfather, who had a look of curiosity and awe on his face, and nodded.

“She is just as beautiful as you and Dad have always told me she was.”

“No photo could do her beauty justice,” Sirius replied, not surprised by his godson’s thoughts on his mother.

“She gave a message for all of you,” Harry explained as he spoke to the whole group, “even you, Draco.”

Draco sat up a little straighter at the mention of his name, unsure why Harry’s mother would have a message for him. However, after everything that happened over the past few hours, he knew that he shouldn’t be surprised by Harry saying something like this. 

“First, I need to tell you that she did give one piece of information to help us. I am not sure how she could even know something like this for certain, she wouldn’t tell me how she knew, but she said we have a minimum of five years before Voldemort will be able to regain his body once more. She knew nothing more than that and I didn’t even try to question her further.”

Taking in everyone’s expressions, especially as they all knew the full story now, it seemed everyone was contemplating what this would mean for them. Yet, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope in everyone’s eyes.

“Before anyone suggests we begin making a plan,” Harry continued before anyone could interrupt, “Mum said, specifically for those of us still in school, that we should enjoy the time we have as well as work towards making sure Voldemort’s next return is short and final.”

“Well, considering you have one more year of school left, Harry, I can only hope you can try and enjoy it a little more than you have done since you have been at this school,” Sirius responded, glad that his godson and friends wouldn’t being making plans to go straight off and get rid of the last few Horcruxes.

“The plans can wait for the moment,” Harry explained before he turned to the headmaster. “Any information you have that you feel would help us find the last Horcruxes would be much appreciated. Once we have all of that, we can make decisions from there.”

The group all nodded in agreement, grateful for the respite after the evening’s events.

“Professor, Mum said she knows about the multitude of mistakes you have made, not just with me and Matt, but across your life. She wouldn’t elaborate on that as she said you would know what she meant.”

“I do,” the headmaster nodded, a look of pain flickering in his eyes.

“She said the time has come for you to face them, fix those that you can, and to forgive yourself.”

The headmaster did not respond, the message hitting him hard as he remembered the tragic events of his childhood and the impact it’d had on his life.

Harry could see that his mother’s words had impacted the professor, just as his mother said they would. He didn’t understand what had happened in his headmaster’s life to cause him the pain he could see in his eyes, but he knew he would be do what he could to discover as much of his past as possible.

“Draco,” Harry said as he turned to the Slytherin, leaving the headmaster to think over his mother’s words, “I didn’t just bring you here to inform you of what had happened and the reason we took advantage of your plans, I brought you here because of what my mother said to me about you. She said it is time for you to have true friendship in your life.”

Draco slumped back in his chair, shocked of the truth in Harry’s words. He wasn’t a fool to believe that he had any true friends in his house. He knew most of them cosied up to him because of who he’s father was.

“She said that you can trust me and to accept the hand of friendship that I wish to offer you,” Harry said as he stood and held out his hand to Draco. “If it helps, I had told Neville, Luna and Ginny to become friends with you after what I thought would be my death and I had asked Uncle Sirius to watch out for you. No one deserves to be without friendship in their life. Trust me, I pushed everyone away for five years until a certain redhead wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

The group laughed as Ginny blushed.

It was of little surprise to everyone that Draco stood and shook Harry’s hand, accepting the friendship he offered.

“Thank you,” he whispered gratefully.

“All of us here will protect you from anyone who wishes you harm,” Harry explained as the two wizards retook their seats. “We will have to keep our friendship secret for our final year at school as a way to protect you, but you need to begin distancing yourself for anyone who has the potential to sway you back to your old ways. You may be a Slytherin, Draco, but, deep down, you have the courage of a Gryffindor to help you to become the person you long and want to be.”

“And it would seem that you are just as cunning as any Slytherin, Harry,” Draco joked in response, revealing his humorous side for the first time. “What about my mother?”

“I will be taking her to the safe house once we are done here,” Sirius answered. “She should have already taken the Portkey to the first safehouse, so she is already safe and away from your father.”

Draco nodded his thanks before turning back to Harry to encourage him to continue, not wanting to delay Sirius from being able to get his mother to where she would be living from now on.

“The message from my mum,” Harry continued as he turned to Neville and Luna, “may be shorter than the others, but it doesn’t make it any less important. She is grateful for you two being in my life and  
for me accepting you into life, even after I kept you at a distance. She thanks you for being for my friends.”

“Thank you for accepting us into your life, Harry,” Luna said as Neville smiled in response to Lily’s message. “I know that cannot have been easy for you.”

Harry smiled his thanks before he took a breath and turned to his godfather. He knew this would be emotional for the both of them, which was evident from the tears that had begun form in Sirius’ eyes.

“Go on, Harry,” Sirius pleaded, desperate to know what his friend had to say.

“She’s proud of you,” Harry told his godfather, a wide smile on his face. “She’s proud of the man you have become. She told me she always believed you had the potential to be much more than a prankster, which you have proved to be through being a father to me when my own dad pushed me aside through his belief that he would be protecting me.”

“She told me that once,” Sirius chuckled, “that I could be so much more than a prankster. I was determined to prove her wrong, but, as always, Lily was right. I blame you for that, Harry. You made me grow up and mature sooner than I would have preferred. Even so, you are worth it!”

Harry blushed at the comment from his godfather.

“My mum said she was disappointed with Dad and Matt. She said that while Dad’s intentions were good, he went about it the wrong way. Even so, she still loves both of them and she knows that when the time comes for them to learn the truth, they will do what is right.”

“I think, perhaps,” Dumbledore interjected before Harry could give out the final message from his mum, “that the last comment was meant as message for you and Sirius as well.”

Harry looked confused as Sirius nodded in agreement. He couldn’t understand how doing what was right would be a message for him, especially when he had only done was right.

“Just think on it, Harry,” the headmaster said as he noticed the confusion on the youngest Potter’s face.

“Ok,” Harry replied as he turned to face his girlfriend.

Ginny pulled away from her boyfriend and looked directly into his beautiful green eyes that never failed to mesmerise her. She was nervous, yet eager, to hear what her boyfriend’s mum had to say to her. She could only hope that it was as positive as the other messages.

“You have nothing to be nervous about,” Harry reassured her, knowing Ginny was worried that his mother would not approve of her. “My mum loves you and wishes she could have met the woman who has claimed my heart. She said she was proud of me for choosing such a perfect partner to spend the rest of my life with.”

Ginny gasped in shock. They had never truly spoken of the future, having known that Harry would have to sacrifice his life in order to bring Voldemort down. Yet, that had all changed the moment Harry had survived the Killing Curse for a second time and there he was admitting he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, something she wanted more than anything.

“Mum says thank you for loving me, even when it looked like I wasn’t going to take that leap of faith and accept the friendship and love you offered me,” Harry continued, not noticing the realisation Ginny had just had. “She said it was down to you and Sirius and the love you both have for me that stopped me from potentially going down a dark path in life.”

Harry grasped his girlfriend’s face in his hands, gently pulling her towards him so their lips could meet in a kiss filled of love and future promises. 

No one spoke, not even after the couple pulled away from their kiss. Everything they had been told, from the events that led to that evening and Voldemort becoming a Wraith once more to Lily’s messages for each of them, was completely overwhelming. They all needed time to digest it before they could even consider making plans for what came next.

“I think it would be best if we call it a night,” Harry said, breaking the silence. “People may begin to wonder where we are if we don’t head back to our common rooms soon.”

“Agreed,” the headmaster replied. “If anyone asks where you were, just tell them that I required your help in checking the school for any students out of their common rooms. If they question it, send them to me.”

As the group broke up, with Sirius quickly saying his goodbyes so he could go and move Narcissa Malfoy to her safehouse, Harry approached the headmaster.

“I need you to keep our involvement in tonight’s events quiet,” Harry requested. “My dad will be angry enough if he finds out I was out and about in the castle, but I don’t want people to know until the time is right.”

“I understand,” Dumbledore replied. “If anyone asks, I will say that I was the one who reduced Voldemort to a Wraith to give us more time to figure out how to defeat him. Is there any information you specifically need?”

“Anything you have on Tom Riddle’s childhood and family. We managed to trace his post-Hogwarts movements, which led to us being able to figure out the pattern in the choices he made for his Horcruxes. However, anything before that seems to be a mystery, like he has erased his past.”

“I can certainly help with that. Allow me some time to make sure I have all the information you need, but for now, I think you have earned a well-deserved break.”

Harry nodded and began to walk towards the door to leave.

“Harry, before you leave, I just want to say I can only apologise again for the mistakes I have made. I promise to make sure to do everything in my power to help you defeat Voldemort for good,” Dumbledore said, causing Harry to pause. “I believe that, perhaps, the events that have led to tonight have, in fact, made you a better person than your brother. I am not even sure he would have handled everything the way you did.”

Harry smiled to himself, pleased with the praise from the Headmaster, before he said, “Thank you,” and left the Room of Requirement.


End file.
